Spending on health is rising in America. Yet, ironically, health outcomes are getting worse. In fact, people here experience the worst health outcomes overall of any high-income nation. U.S. residents are more likely to die younger, and from avoidable causes, than residents of peer countries, according to a 2023 report from The Commonwealth Fund. Let’s compare health outcomes with peer countries to provide an important baseline for where we are in health outcomes and set a target for where we could be.
The U.S. and 5 Important Domains of Healthcare Systems
A 2021 study by The Commonwealth Fund compared five performance domains of health care systems across 11 high-income countries. Researchers found the U.S. ranks last on four of five domains: access to care (last)
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Where you live can hurt or help your health. In fact, our health is influenced by a variety of non-medical factors, such as the conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work, and age. These conditions are known as social determinants of health (SDoH). Sometimes, social needs can arise from inequities in SDoH. These social needs include low wages and limited employee benefits; underperforming schools; lack of medical providers; unstable and unaffordable housing; low access to nutritious food; unreliable transportation options; and unsafe streets and parks. Here at Salud America!®, we believe everyday people can make healthy changes in their community to address social needs. That’s right – you don’t need to hold political office to make a positive ...
Since the 1960s, community health centers (also called Federally Qualified Health Centers) have made it their mission to increase people’s access to primary healthcare by reducing barriers, such as cost, lack of insurance, distance, and language. But beyond clinic walls, many people have big social needs, like unstable housing, that hurt their health. That is why the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) helped create a social determinants of health (SDoH) screening tool – PRAPARE® (Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patient’s Assets, Risks and Experiences) – to enable community health centers to identify social needs among patients and refer them to local resources for aid. Today, PRAPARE® helps hundreds of community health centers, like the ...
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease that usually affects young adults of various races/ethnicities, including Latinos. However, compared to white people, there is less understanding of how the disease impacts the Latino community. Let’s explore more about MS, why less is known about MS in Latinos, and how Latinos can gain equal access to MS care.
What Causes MS?
Normally, our body’s immune system protects us from getting sick. But sometimes, our immune system can mistakenly attack parts of our own body. In MS, the immune system attacks myelin, a substance that coats nerve fibers, according to the National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke. Myelin can be found in our body’s central nervous system, which includes the brain, optic ...
Data can drive action for healthy change. But what if we don’t have enough data? Or the right data? Or equitable data? Unfortunately, even with more health reports and more health dashboards than ever before, we still face inconsistent and incomplete data. We are lacking sufficient data – especially data disaggregated by race/ethnicity – on social determinants of health, firearm violence, traffic crashes, and adverse childhood experiences. Insufficient data happens for many reasons. Limited funding, limited staff, uncertain methods, logistical challenges, entrenched practices, inadequate analysis, and inadequate or non-uniform reporting after data collection are occurring at the local, state, and federal levels. Let’s explore the most critical missing data and how ...
In January 2023, the Biden-Harris administration released a Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights. The purpose of the blueprint is to support a well-functioning, equitable housing market for renters and all of society, which is important for Latinos who struggle with access to affordable housing. Let’s explore the blueprint and its five principles that “create a shared baseline for fairness” for Latino and all renters, according to the White House.
Blueprint Principle 1: Safe, Quality, Accessible, and Affordable Housing
Where you live affects your health. Renters should have access to safe, quality housing in neighborhoods that meet their health needs, including access to green spaces, reliable public transportation, and nutritious food. In addition, quality housing ...
Obesity Care Week 2023 (#OCW2023) is here! From Feb. 27 to March 3, 2023, Obesity Care Week is an annual public awareness effort to end weight bias, as well as raise awareness, educate and advocate for a better world for people living with obesity. Also, World Obesity Day is March 4, 2023. Our Salud America! Latino health equity team at UT Health San Antonio is happy to serve as an OCW2023 Champion to support this awareness week. "Unlike most other diseases, obesity is one that continues to be stigmatized and those impacted struggle to receive any care in many cases, let alone adequate care," said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio and a leading health disparities researcher. "OCW2023 aims to raise awareness, educate, and advocate for ...
Health equity is where everyone has a fair, just opportunity to be healthier. How can we reach this ideal, especially as Latinos face cancer and chronic disease health disparities rooted in systemic inequities in access to clinical trials, income, health care, food, housing, and discrimination? You're invited to a webinar series, "Let’s Address Health Equity Together," a collaboration of the Salud America! program at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio, and Genentech. Here are the three webinars planned for 2024: 4/25/24: How to Identify and Equitably Respond to Local Cancer Needs
6/5/24: How to Support Latino Cancer Survivors
9/10/24: How to Fight Back Against El Asesino ...
As more healthcare systems start to screen patients for social determinants of health (SDoH), we at Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio are spotlighting why screening for SDoH is so important to improve health outcomes, especially among Latinos. Today, we are sharing three SDoH screening tools that can help address social needs, or the non-medical barriers to health, of Latinos and all patients. You can use these screening tools – questionnaires that gather information from patients – in your healthcare facility or use them as inspiration to create your own screening tool. Let’s dive into these health-changing tools!
The Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks, and Experiences (PRAPARE®)
PRAPARE® helps health centers and other providers ...
