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INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF CHICAGO

  • 29 Apr 2022 9:41 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    On his first designed Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. The Order recognized that although the ideal of equal opportunity is the bedrock of American democracy, entrenched disparities in our laws, public policies, and institutions too often deny equal opportunity to individuals and communities.  The President’s Order emphasized the enormous human costs of systemic racism, persistent poverty, and other disparities, and directed the Federal Government to advance an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda that matches the scale of the challenges we face as a country and the opportunities we have to build a more perfect union Full article> 

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  • 28 Apr 2022 11:47 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Starting this week, the Administration will allow all pharmacies in the federal pharmacy program to order free oral antiviral treatments directly from the federal government, the White House announced today. The Administration hopes to double the number of participating pharmacies to 40,000 in the coming weeks, and to launch new Test-to-Treat locations that offer the Pfizer and Merck pills, which the Food and Drug Administration authorized in December to treat COVID-19 in patients at risk of progressing to severe disease. Pharmacies also can continue to receive the pills through their state or territorial health department. The Administration said it is working to improve the Test-to-Treat patient experience, including through telehealth options; and to provide more guidance on COVID-19 treatments to prescribers and clinicians. [AHA 4.26.2022]

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  • 27 Apr 2022 11:41 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Chicago's top doctor said Tuesday she's pleased with the city's current position with COVID-19.(Health News Illinois]

    Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said that cases are increasing at a gradual level, but local hospitals and providers still have plenty of capacity. Severe illnesses and deaths remain near pandemic lows.

    “COVID is not gone, – and may never be gone – but I remain pleased with Chicago’s current position at this stage of the pandemic,” she said.

    The seven-day average for new daily cases in Chicago is 616, up 26 percent from the prior week. The city is averaging 12 daily COVID-related hospitalizations, the same as the prior week.

    Statewide, hospitalizations and cases continue their increase.

    As of Monday, 708 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, up 20 from Sunday and up 142 from the prior week.

    Of the patients in the hospital, 94 were in intensive care units, up 17 from Sunday and up 21 from the prior week. Twenty-four percent of Illinois’ ICU beds were available, up 1 percentage point from the prior week.

    There were 33 patients on ventilators, up 10 from Sunday and down three from the prior week.

    Four Illinois counties, Champaign, DuPage, McLean and Piatt, are rated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having a “medium” risk of community spread.

    The state Department of Public Health reported 2,509 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths on Tuesday. The new cases bring the state total to 3,124,700, while the death toll is 33,584.

    The seven-day average for new cases on Tuesday was 3,141, up 849 from the prior week. The seven-day average for daily deaths is seven, the same as the prior week.

    The seven-day case rate per 100,000 people is 24.7, up 6.7 from the prior week.

    About 81.3 percent of eligible Illinoisans ages 5 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 72.9 percent are fully vaccinated.

    Illinois vaccinators have administered 21,812,955 COVID-19 vaccines, including 4,375,365 booster doses. The seven-day average for doses administered is 16,728.

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  • 26 Apr 2022 9:40 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    An initiative to boost the health and economic prosperity of 18 south and west side Chicago neighborhoods made significant progress in hiring area residents, according to a recent report.

    The report by the Chicago Hospital Engagement, Action, and Leadership Initiative, launched in 2018 by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and a coalition of 10 hospitals, found those organizations hired an annual average of 3,535 individuals from the underserved neighborhoods, a 21 percent increase from 2018.

    Additionally, the report found that 3,571 hospital staff were trained to screen patients for social determinants of health needs, a 242 percent increase since 2018, and an annual average of 4,212 victims of violence received post-injury trauma recovery services, a 130 percent increase from 2018.

    Work was also done to improve the workforce pipeline in those underserved communities, with 4,921 high school and college students from those neighborhoods participating in workforce development programs in 2021, a 28 percent increase from 2018.

    “Despite normally being competitors in the healthcare sector, these hospitals banded together to engage their communities and address the root causes of violence,” Durbin said in a statement. “I’ve been proud to work with them and the Illinois Health and Hospital Association and I believe the activities and commitments of these hospitals provides a roadmap that will continue to make a difference across Chicago and beyond.”

    Durbin also announced last week that nearly $5.8 million in federal funds will head to organizations in Chicago that are working to address community mental health, housing, job training and violence prevention.

    Illinois Health and Hospital Association CEO A.J. Wilhelmi said they're committed to continuing the work of the initiative.

     “It's about changing lives," he said in a statement.

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  • 25 Apr 2022 4:38 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Eight Democratic members of Illinois’ congressional delegation joined 76 other colleagues last week to urge leadership to prioritize maternal health in a future spending bill. [Health News Illinois 4.25.2022]

    In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the House members said investments are needed to address the nation's maternal health crisis.

    Requested provisions include permanent yearlong Medicaid coverage of postpartum services in every state with full state plan benefits and investing hundreds of millions of dollars in programs that allow states to provide coordinated maternity care services, address social determinants of maternal health and grow and diversify the perinatal health workforce.

    “These evidence-based investments center (on) the families most severely impacted by our nation’s maternal health crisis, and the provisions were shaped by women of color and local organizations that are on the ground in communities across the country, doing urgently important work to support pregnant people and new parents,” the letter said.

    Signees included U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson; Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville; Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Schaumburg; Danny Davis, D-Chicago; Mike Quigley, D-Chicago; Bobby Rush, D-Chicago; Marie Newman, D-La Grange; and Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston.

    Budget reconciliation allows Congress to make changes to spending and revenue with a majority vote, bypassing the 60-vote threshold needed to override a filibuster in the Senate.

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  • 22 Apr 2022 10:05 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center.

    About 30% of COVID-19 patients developed the condition known as long COVID, UCLA researchers said in a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. [Medscape 4.21.2022]

    The UCLA researchers studied 1,038 people enrolled in the UCLA COVID Ambulatory Program between April 2020 and February 2021. Researchers found that 309 of them developed long COVID.

    A long COVID diagnosis came if a patient answering a questionnaire reported persistent symptoms 60-90 days after they were infected or hospitalized. The most persistent symptoms were fatigue (31%) and shortness of breath (15%) in hospitalized participants. Among outpatients, 16% reported losing sense of smell.

    Full article here> 

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  • 21 Apr 2022 5:17 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Illinois House Democrats urge leadership to take up healthcare costs, Medicaid coverage

    Four Illinois Democratic Congress members joined 70 of their colleagues this week to urge leadership to take up plans to lower out-of-pocket health premium costs and extend Medicaid coverage in certain states in a future spending bill. [Health News Illinois 4.21.2022]

    In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the House members called on the Senate to include a provision in reconciliation legislation that would expand eligibility for premium tax credits beyond 400 percent of the federal poverty line and increase the size of the tax credit for all income brackets. The proposal, originally sponsored by Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville, was included on a temporary basis in the American Rescue Plan Act.

    The letter also calls on the Senate to take up a provision to offer financial incentives to encourage states that have not expanded Medicaid to do so.

    “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make high-quality care affordable and accessible for all,” the letter said. “We stand ready to join you in working to pass this critical legislation through Congress and get it signed into law swiftly.”

    Signees included Underwood and Reps. Marie Newman, D-La Grange; Mike Quigley, D-Chicago; and Brad Schneider, D-Deerfield.

    Budget reconciliation allows Congress to make changes to spending and revenue with a majority vote, bypassing the 60-vote threshold needed to override a filibuster in the Senate.

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  • 20 Apr 2022 8:03 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    World Health Organization (WHO) has defined a child is as “a person less than 19 years of age unless there is a separate definition as per the national law”. Adolescent period refers to the age group of 10 to 19 years.5 The prevalence of obesity is mounting at an alarming rate in this Century. It is a risk factor which is highly preventable and primordial prevention is the key to bring down the rates of adolescent obesity. In the year 2016, around 340 million children were noted to be overweight across the world. The preva-ence of obesity in childhood has risen four-fold since 1980s. WHO has set cut off values for identifying overweight and obesity for children aged 5-19 years taking into consideration the age and sex of children as body weight varies accordingly.6, [National Journal of Community Health 1.2022]

    Download article here> 

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  • 19 Apr 2022 10:35 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    CHICAGO—The Institute of Medicine of Chicago  2022 Healthcare Awards are open for nominations. The seven award categories are open to all through May 2-4, 2022. There is no fee to submit an entry. Awards will be presented at the 2022 Annual Meeting on June 30, 2022. The awards presentation will be held at VenueSix 10 in Chicago, Illinois. Consider honoring a colleague for their outstanding efforts by nominating them for an award. 

    Questions? Contact us by sending an email to iomcstaff@iomc.org. Please state 2022 Healthcare Awards in the Subject line. 

    Download News Release here>

    Visit the webpage here> 

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  • 19 Apr 2022 5:27 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    A bill recently passed by the House and under consideration in the Senate caps insulin payments at $35 a month for individuals with Medicare or private health insurance. The legislation speaks directly to the crisis in affordability for a life-saving medicine, but in the long term it is just shuffling the deck rather than changing the game of insulin costs. [MedPage Today 4.19.2022]

    Like a lot of high stakes games, this one takes place in back rooms, and certainly out of view of patients and doctors. Many believe drug manufacturers run the game because it involves steadily rising list prices, which they set. 

    The Crisis

    We are in the midst of a diabetes epidemic. In Medicare alone, about one-third of beneficiaries had diabetes in 2017, up from 18% in 2000. Beneficiaries' mean out-of-pocket spending on insulin has nearly doubled over the last decade. In a recent study, we found that out-of-pocket spending increased considerably in the coverage gap for most users with Part D coverage, which was associated with a substantial reduction in adherence.

    Full article here>


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