Delaying medical care can cause catastrophic health and financial problems. That’s why early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services temporarily expanded its telehealth coverage so physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists and licensed clinical social workers would be reimbursed for telehealth services. Other payers followed suit. Unfortunately, not everyone can just hop on a telehealth video call. Many Latinos and other vulnerable populations—older people, people experiencing domestic violence, and families with low income—face insurance, language, health literacy, digital literacy, and digital access barriers to telehealth services. Moreover, telehealth can be challenging for people with autism, intellectual and developmental ...
COVID-19 can affect anyone. But the coronavirus pandemic is impacting Latinos and other communities of color more severely. This is why Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, is joining a webinar to discuss issues and solutions to COVID-19 health disparities. The webinar, "Why Are We Dying? Race, Ethnicity and Health Justice in the COVID-19 Pandemic," is set for 11 a.m. CST Monday, June 29, 2020. The event is sponsored by PanPals.com, a program at the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at UT Health San Antonio. Register for the webinar. The webinar features: Amelie Ramirez, DrPH, Professor and Chair, Department of Population Health Sciences and Director, Institute for Health Promotion Research, UT Health San Antonio. Dr. Ramirez ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, has been named one of the "The Cancer Health 25: Change Makers" by Cancer Health magazine. The magazine recognizes individuals who "make a difference every day." "They have each experienced cancer, either personally or through someone they love," according to the magazine. "And it has changed them, made them want to give back and given them a mission to make a difference for others living with cancer."
Dr. Ramirez & Her Healthy Equity Research
For more than 30 years, Ramirez gained experience developing research and communication models to improve Latino health locally and nationally.
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez
Her studies have increased cancer screening and survivorship. Specifically, her patient ...
As shelter-in-place orders swept the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare providers’ implementation of telehealth expanded rapidly. In telehealth sessions, those seeking routine check-ups, mental health care, or other services can meet with their provider virtually using computers or other smart devices. This novel way of treating patients aims to look for ways to deliver care to patients in their homes to limit the transmission of the novel coronavirus. "The current public health emergency and the resulting accelerated growth potential in telehealth services is an opportunity for providers to enhance their care practices and for insurers and policymakers to recognize the value of telemedicine," a recent report from UCLA's Center for the Study of Latino health and ...
To minimize exposure to and transmission of COVID-19, providers have rapidly transitioned to telehealth to care for patients at a distance. However, there is an absence of best practices and necessary infrastructure to expand telehealth services, particularly in underserved and Latino communities. Latinos are particularly vulnerable to this disruption in care for many reasons, such as: they have highest uninsured rates of any racial or ethnic group in the U.S.;
they are less likely to have a usual source of health care;
they face barriers related to differences in culture, language and beliefs;
they are less likely to have broadband subscription than whites; and
they face higher rates of COVID-19 due to their jobs in the service industry. Join #SaludTues on June ...
Latinos and Blacks together comprise 55% of coronavirus cases, nearly double their U.S. population makeup, according to new CDC data. Overall, Latinos were 33% of COVID-19 cases and Blacks were 22% in an analysis of 1.3 million lab-confirmed coronavirus cases reported to CDC during January 22-May 30, 2020. These are much higher rates than Latinos and Black representation in the U.S. population (18% and 13%). The new CDC data reinforce the disparate impact of COVID-19 on Latinos amid worsening historical inequities. "As protests against systemic racism in policing take place nationwide following the death of 46-year-old George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, the pandemic continues to show similar discrepancies in healthcare and economics," Forbes reports on the CDC ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez and her team at Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio have won a "silver award" for promoting Latino health equity from the Spring 2020 Digital Health Awards! Digital Health Awards are given each spring and fall to recognize the world’s best digital health resources. The awards are given by the Health Information Resource Center. The Center is a national clearinghouse for professionals who work in consumer health fields. Here are the Salud America! award recipients: Silver, Spring 2020 Digital Health Awards, Web-Based Digital Health—Digital Content Curation, Salud America! Latino Health Equity Website, featuring the work of Dr. Ramirez and digital content curators Josh McCormack, Amanda Merck, and Pramod Sukumaran. Dr. Ramirez and Salud America! ...
We know that older adults with underlying health conditions are most vulnerable to the worst effects of coronavirus. New data show that 10% of COVID-19 patients with diabetes die within one week of being hospitalized, according to a French study in the journal Diabetologia. Most hospitalizations are men and older adults (average age 69.8). The study also found that each increase in body mass index (BMI) is associated with an increase in the risk of intubation and/or death in the 7 days following admission for COVID-19, Dr. Samy Hadjadj told Medscape Medical News. "Before [this study] it was, 'all diabetes [patients] are the same.' Now we can surely consider more precisely the risk, taking age, sex, BMI, complications ... as clear 'very high-risk situations,'" Hadjadj said. "So ...
Cancer patients who get COVID-19 have a 13% risk of dying, much higher than the 6% death rate of coronavirus in the general population, according to a study published in The Lancet. But the reasons for bigger risk aren't what researchers expected. Pregnant women or people with autoimmune diseases or blood cancers are, surprisingly, not more susceptible to severe coronavirus, USA Today reports. Instead, people with cancer and the general population have the same basic reasons for severe coronavirus outcomes. These include older age, smoking, and underlying health problems like diabetes and obesity, according to the new study. This suggests cancer still poses a greater danger than the virus. "Many cancer treatments do not weaken the immune system to a level that it could not ...
