Several leaders of the Illinois agencies that oversee healthcare services will remain in place, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Monday.

That includes Dr. Sameer Vohra, who will continue to serve as director of the Department of Public Health. He has overseen the agency since last year, taking over for Dr. Ngozi Ezike, who initially led the agency under Pritzker’s administration. [Health News Illinois]

Other officials who are staying include Grace Hou, who will continue to serve as secretary of the Department of Human Services, a role she has held since 2019.

Paula Basta, who has led the Department of Aging as its director since 2019, will continue in that role. ​​Terry Prince will continue to serve as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, a position he has held since 2021.

Several state agencies were not included in Pritzker’s announcement, including the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the Department of Insurance.

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Five Illinois groups are set to receive just over $5.7 million from the U.S. Department of Education to support wrap-around services in academics, mental health programming and nutrition for students. [Health News Illinois] 

Frida Kahlo Community Organization will receive nearly $2.8 million, while Cook County School District 104 will receive $1.4 million. Three other groups will receive $500,00 each.

Illinois’ two senators praised the funding.

 “When we work to ensure kids in school have access to nutritious food, mental health resources and academic support, we are helping set them up for success,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.

See list of recipients here> 

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First-of-its-kind policy statement says adolescent needs differ from younger inpatients

Hospitalized adolescents have "unique and essential needs" that differ from those of younger pediatric inpatients, and it is critical that care teams have "knowledge, experience, and compassion" when it comes to addressing these specific needs, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said in a new policy statement. [ MedPage Today}

This statement marks the first of its kind published in the U.S., noted Cora Breuner, MD, MPH, of the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital, and colleagues in Pediatricsopens in a new tab or window. Overall, knowledge and understanding of adolescent growth and development, as well as the legal and ethical issues that affect this population, are essential to delivering comprehensive care to hospitalized teens. Download document here>

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Nursing homes play a unique dual role in the long-term care continuum, serving as a place where people receive needed health care and a place they call home. Ineffective responses to the complex challenges of nursing home care have resulted in a system that often fails to ensure the well-being and safety of nursing home residents. The devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing home residents and staff has renewed attention to the long-standing weaknesses that impede the provision of high-quality nursing home care.

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The CDC has awarded $3.2 billion in grants to local and territorial public health agencies to strengthen US public health infrastructure and rebuild the national public health workforce.[JAMA Network]

The agency awarded direct funding totaling $3.14 million to 107 public health departments in all 50 states, Washington, DC, 8 territories or freely associated states, and 48 large municipal public health departments. Together, the grantees serve every individual living in the US, according to a statement from the CDC.

“State, local, and territorial health departments are the heart of the US public health system, and the COVID-19 pandemic severely stressed these agencies, which were already weakened by neglect and underinvestment,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, said in the statement.

The American Rescue Plan Act provided $3 billion for the grants, which is earmarked for public health departments to build and strengthen their frontline workforce. The funding will support initiatives to recruit, retain, and train a diverse workforce that includes epidemiologists, contact tracers, community health workers, and data analysts. The CDC awarded an additional $140 million in grants to improve public health infrastructure, including modernizing data infrastructure and making public health data more shareable between public health agencies.

The grants are flexible enough to allow grantees to customize their use to meet the specific needs of their communities. “We are meeting them where they are and trusting them to know what works best for their communities,” Walensky said in the statement.

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The Illinois House of Representatives has laid out the heads of its committees for the coming legislative session. [Health News Illinois] 

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, said in a statement the committee chairs are “passionate and educated on the topics that will come before them, and they will provide strong guidance as they vet and advance legislative priorities that are most important to Illinoisans."

Among the notable healthcare committee appointments include:

·    Rep. Camille Lilly, D-Chicago, will chair the Appropriations-Health and Human Services Committee.

·    Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, will chair the Health Care Licenses Committee.

·    Rep. Lakesia Collins, D-Chicago, will chair the Health Care Availability and Access Committee.

·    Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, will chair the Human Services Committee.

·    Rep. Thaddeus Jones, D-Calumet City, will chair the Insurance Committee.

·    Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, D-Chicago, will chair the Mental Health Committee.

·    Rep. Jawaharial Williams, D-Chicago, will chair the Prescription Drug Affordability Committee.

• Rep. Anne Stava-Murray, D-Naperville, will chair the Public Health Committee.

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Looking to expand your horizons, meet with other medical and dental professionals and students? Student Networking Event!  Register now to meet up with Dr. Anita Stewart and Dr. Doriane Miller.  Registration required - by invitation only.2:30 PM - Lunch and refreshments.  More> 

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The Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative plans to build a walkable village in West Garfield Park, and its project will get $10 million from the Pritzker Traubert Foundation as part of the foundation’s 2022 Chicago Prize.

Leaders from the foundation announced the winner Thursday afternoon.

The group was one of six South and West side finalists for the prize that were announced last year.

Its project, the Sankofa Wellness Village, will allow residents to be no more than 15 minutes from what they need — from health care and groceries to arts and entertainment.

“In choosing this remarkable project, we were struck by the enormous disparity between life expectancies in West Garfield Park compared to other parts of our city,” Bryan Traubert, co-founder and trustee of the Pritzker Traubert Foundation, said in a news release. “This strong grass roots community-led proposal inspired us with their bold vision to address those disparities by bringing needed and essential services to West Garfield Park that are frankly taken for granted in many other parts of the city.”

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See News Release here>

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High labor and supply expenses in addition to inflationary pressures will continue to batter nonprofit hospitals this year, contributing to a ‘deteriorating’ outlook for systems, Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday. [Healthcare Dive]

The outlook is a continuation of the ‘deteriorating’ nonprofit sector outlook that Fitch Ratings released in August last year, when the ratings agency downgraded the sector from a ‘neutral’ rating. 

Still, Fitch sees some signs “that we are beginning to come out of the worst of it,” said Kevin Holloran, senior director at the agency.

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More studies are drawing a link between social determinants of health (SDOH) food insecurity and health outcomes, with the latest in Health Affairs showing that food insecurity yielded some $2,500 in healthcare expenditures for a whole family in one year. [ Patient Engagement HIT] 

That amounts to about 20 percent higher yearly healthcare expenditures for food insecure families than those families not experiencing food insecurity.

But the data also showed that the around 20 percent of households that have a mixture of health insurance plans and carriers might stymie efforts to mitigate food insecurity, with payers questioning how investments will impact their own member panels.

Food insecurity is a unique social determinant of health because it has a trickle-down effect on the entire family. If one family member is food insecure, it is likely the entire family is food insecure and therefore the whole family may see the impacts on their health.

“Evaluating the relationship between food insecurity and total family health care spending could provide a better understanding of the financial implications of food insecurity for families overall,” the researchers wrote in the study. “This nuanced information is important for understanding the potential impact of food insecurity interventions, which can have spillover effects throughout the family even when targeted to an individual.”

Full article here>

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