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INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF CHICAGO

  • 16 Jun 2022 10:24 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The Commonwealth Fund released its 2022 Scorecard on State Health System Performance, which was modified from previous years to factor each state's response and management of the COVID-19 pandemic into its grade.[Becker's Health Review]

    The Commonwealth Fund evaluated states on 56 performance measures grouped into seven dimensions: (1) access and affordability, (2) prevention and treatment, (3) avoidable hospital use and cost, (4) healthy lives, (5) COVID-19, (6) income disparity and (7) racial and ethnic equity. The report generally reflects data from 2020, although seven new measures tied to COVID-19 incorporate data through the first quarter of 2022.

    Some insights into the rankings and scores: 

    • Hawaii ranked No. 1 for its COVID-19 response and management, helping its overall No. 1 ranking. 
    • Alabama ranked No. 51 for its COVID-19 response and management, moving down its overall ranking to No. 46. 
    • Utah ranked No. 1 for avoidable hospital use and cost; West Virginia ranked No. 51. 
    • Massachusetts ranked No. 2 overall, but it led the country for four dimensions: access and affordability; prevention and treatment; healthy lives and racial and ethnic equity.

    Below is each state and its overall ranking, which includes ties. The complete ranking and scoring can be found here

    1. Hawaii

    2. Massachusetts

    3. Connecticut 

    4. Washington

    5. Vermont

    6. Rhode Island

    7. Maryland

    8. New Hampshire

    9. Minnesota

    10. New York

    11. California

    12. Colorado

    13. District of Columbia 

    14. Pennsylvania
    *Oregon
    *Maine

    17. Iowa

    18. New Jersey

    19. Utah

    20. Virginia

    21. Wisconsin

    22. Nebraska
    *Illinois 

    24. Michigan

    25. Idaho

    26. New Mexico

    27. Delaware

    28. Montana

    29. North Dakota

    30. South Dakota
    *Alaska

    32. Arizona

    33. Ohio

    34. North Carolina

    35. Kansas

    36. Florida

    37. South Carolina
    *Indiana

    39. Louisiana

    40. Tennessee

    41. Wyoming
    *Nevada
    *Kentucky

    44. Georgia
    *Arkansas

    46. Alabama

    47. Missouri

    48. Texas

    49. West Virginia

    50. Oklahoma

    51. Mississippi

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  • 15 Jun 2022 5:54 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Free COVID-19 testing will continue to be made available to every public school outside of Chicago through the upcoming school year, the Department of Public Health announced Tuesday. [Health News Illinois]

    The agency will renew its agreement with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to use its saliva-based COVID-19 tests to quickly identify individuals who are positive for COVID-19.

    “We want to do everything possible to prevent sickness among our children, which is why this renewal and continued testing is critical,” IDPH Acting Director Amaal Tokars said in a statement.

    The program, paid for through federal funds, provided testing for about 1 million students and staff in K-12 schools during the most recent school year, according to IDPH.

    A separate testing agreement with the Chicago Department of Public Health covers testing for the city’s charter, parochial and private schools. Chicago Public Schools receives direct federal funding for its own testing program. 

    As of Monday, 1,192 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, up 48 from Sunday and down 26 from the prior week.

    Of the patients in the hospital, 122 were in intensive care units, up five from Sunday and up 11 from the prior week. Twenty-one percent of Illinois’ ICU beds were available, down 1 percentage point from the prior week.

    There were 35 patients on ventilators, up four from Sunday and up two from the prior week.

    Thirty-two Illinois counties are now at “high” COVID-19 transmission risk, the level at which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people mask indoors in public spaces. An additional 39 counties are now rated at the “medium” risk level.

    The Department of Public Health reported 3,879 new COVID-19 cases and 21 deaths on Tuesday. The new cases bring the state total to 3,365,525. The death toll is 33,954.

    The seven-day average for new cases on Tuesday was 3,983, down 1,049 from the prior week. The seven-day average for daily deaths is 10, the same as the prior week.

    The seven-day case rate per 100,000 people is 31.3, down 8.2 from the prior week.

     Illinois vaccinators have administered 22,509,886 COVID-19 vaccines, including 4,569,097 booster doses. The seven-day average for doses administered is 11,024. 

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  • 14 Jun 2022 1:00 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Pending authorization from federal regulators, vaccinations for the nation's estimated 19 million children younger than 5 could be available as soon as June 21The Wall Street Journal reported June 9. [Becker's Health Review]

    In anticipation of FDA clearance and CDC sign-off, senior officials told the Journal the Biden administration is gearing up distribution plans for 10 million combined initial doses of Moderna's two-dose vaccine regimen for young children and Pfizer-BioNTech's three-dose regimen. 

    In addition to public health clinics, pharmacies and community health centers, the U.S. plans to make vaccinations for kids younger than 5 available at more than 100 children's hospitals and pop-up clinics at children's museums.

    An outside FDA advisory panel is set to meet June 14-15 to review the emergency use authorization applications from both Pfizer and Moderna, with the CDC slated to review data to make a recommendation June 17 and 18. 

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  • 13 Jun 2022 5:47 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Four innovators named in advancing health equity solutions

    The Institute of Medicine of Chicago  named  four recipients for its 2022 Healthcare Awards. They are

    Ms. Donna Thompson, RN, MS, Dr. Lisa Green, DO, MPH, Ukraine Medical Association – State of Illinois, and University of Illinois,  Department of Emergency Medicine.

    The awardees were selected for their initiatives, solutions, and impact on advancing health equity.  The recipients will honored at the 2022 Annual Meeting on June 30, 2022, at VenueSix 10 in Chicago, Illinois.  For more details, visit this page.   

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  • 10 Jun 2022 1:10 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Over a quarter of Illinois counties are now at “high” COVID-19 transmission risk, according to data released late Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Health News Illinois]

    The 32 counties are at a level where the agency recommends people mask indoors in public spaces, while another 28 counties are rated at the “medium” risk level.

    The state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations are falling, though case counts are slowly increasing.

    As of Wednesday, 1,180 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, down 21 from Tuesday and down 87 from the prior week.

    Of the patients in the hospital, 107 were in intensive care units, down 14 from Tuesday and down 11 from the prior week. Twenty-one percent of Illinois’ ICU beds were available, down one percentage point from the prior week.

    There were 29 patients on ventilators, down seven from Tuesday and down four from the prior week.

    The Department of Public Health reported 4,294 new COVID-19 cases and 10 death on Thursday. The new cases bring the state total to 3,346,836, while the death toll is at 33,914.

    The seven-day average for new cases on Thursday was 4,811, up 176 from the prior week. The seven-day average for daily deaths is 10, up three from the prior week.

    The seven-day case rate per 100,000 people is 37.8, up 1.4 from the prior week.

    Illinois vaccinators have administered 22,471,044 COVID-19 vaccines, including 4,554,223 booster doses. The seven-day average for doses administered is 11,824.

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  • 9 Jun 2022 8:12 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced it is establishing an Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ), bringing awareness to the impact of environmental health inequities.

    “The blunt truth is that many communities across our nation – particularly low-income communities and communities of color – continue to bear the brunt of pollution from industrial development, poor land use decisions, transportation, and trade corridors,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the press release. “Meeting the needs of these communities requires our focused attention. That’s why HHS is establishing the Office of Environmental Justice.”

    The crisis of climate change is arguably the newest social determinant of health (SDOH), impacting the health of marginalized communities.

    Read the full article here>

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  • 8 Jun 2022 6:13 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    In potentially a sign of evolving patient expectations of care, more and more younger people are looking for their providers to ask them about their social needs, or conduct social determinants of health screenings, according to surveying from the University of Michigan. [Health Engagement HIT] 

    Using data from the MyVoice National Poll of Youth, the researchers determined that a whopping 81 percent of people ages 14 to 20—mostly Gen Z—want their providers to ask them about social needs that are collectively known as the social determinants of health.

    “It seems obvious that addressing social needs, like food and housing, in clinical settings would benefit patients,” Claire Chang, a U-M Medical School student and the study’s first author, said in a press release. “But we actually know very little about whether and how patients would want to receive this kind of assistance.”

    Dig Deeper

    This latest data is novel in that it provides a glimpse into some patient perspectives about social determinants of health screening. SDOH screening can be very intimate, and it requires significant trust between patient and provider. These findings suggest that many younger patients would be open to such questions during their medical encounters.

    “Youth in our study told us that they do want to talk about social determinants of health with their providers,” Change added. “It is important for us to understand these preferences and desires as social/medical care integration efforts spread across the country.”

    In fact, the finding that most younger patients want their providers to initiate conversations about SDOH is critical; nearly a third of respondents said they might be embarrassed to bring up their own social needs during a clinical encounter. Having a provider begin a discussion about SDOH could help mitigate that discomfort and foster a better patient experience.

    Younger patients also want their clinicians to come to them with a solution to their SDOH needs. A quarter said they want their providers to offer resources to help ameliorate their social needs, and just as many said providers should have information about social services addressing SDOH.

    Most younger patients want to hear about these resources in-person during their clinical encounters, although they did note they are open to receiving emails, text messages, or phone calls detailing SDOH resources, as well.

    These findings come as welcome news as more healthcare organizations consider strategies for screening for and addressing social determinants of health. It has become the consensus among the medical industry that SDOH have an outsized impact on patient health and outcomes, and now the evidence grows suggesting patients want to talk about these issues, too.

    “As a doctor, what I hear is my adolescent and young adult patients want me to ask them about more than their health. They want me to ask about their lives,” Tammy Chang, MD, MPH, MS, the poll director and a family medicine physician for U-M, stated publicly.

    “This opens a door for doctors and other healthcare providers to really understand the root causes of the issues that young people are facing today. Youth in our study didn't expect providers to solve their issues, rather, just listen. I can do that.”

    STRATEGIES FOR SDOH SCREENING

    Healthcare organizations considering SDOH screening need to be judicious about how they roll out any changes to clinical procedure. As noted above, SDOH screening can be sensitive, and poll respondents did indicate that there is some embarrassment associated with social needs.

    Healthcare professionals need to lead any SDOH screening with empathy and trust.

    Clinicians should explain to patients what they are doing during a screening, why they are doing it, and that patients can opt out of a screening at any time.

    Those principles should be reflected in the screening itself, which is usually done on a paper form of digital tool. In addition, screening tools should meet population needs and preferences—younger people might prefer digital screenings while other populations may want a more paper-based form.

    Both using screening tools and during follow-up discussions with providers, it is helpful to have a number of resources on hand to address patient needs. Organizations should consider the community health partnerships they already have and tailor their screening questions to them—why ask about legal issues if the provider does not have a medical-legal partnership?

    This helps engender patient trust and assure a closed loop on medical and SDOH care.

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  • 7 Jun 2022 5:48 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Coronaviruses are single-stranded RNA viruses with large genomes and, until recently, consisted of the mild 229E, OC43, L69, and H53U1 strains, and the "novel" SARS and MERS strains. Sometime in late 2019, a third "novel" coronavirus called the "Wuhan" strain emerged. This began what we now know as the COVID-19 pandemic. With subsequent mutation, "variants of concern" soon emerged, starting with Alpha, and the most significant subsequently being Delta and then Omicron. [ MedPage Today 6.7.2022]

    Mutations evolved and new strains replaced older variants. Now we are in the Omicron subvariant replacement phase. BA.1 was replaced by BA.2 and then BA.2 was replaced by BA.2.12.1. Starting in early 2022, the latest of these subvariants of concern became the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, originally described in South Africa. The earliest samples of BA.4 and BA.5 in the U.S. were collected on March 30 and March 29, respectively. 

    Each time a new variant comes along, it feels like we're starting from scratch all over again. How fast is the new variant spreading? What does the symptomatology and severity look like? While many questions remain about these new subvariants, below I review current insights into their transmissibility, disease severity, and survivability.

    What We Know

    See full article here> 

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  • 6 Jun 2022 10:35 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Gov. JB Pritzker signed three bills Friday aimed at addressing the opioid crisis. [Health News Illinois 6.6.2022]

     

    "By deploying harm reduction strategies and expanding drug-court treatment programs rooted in rehabilitation, we can save countless lives,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Drug dependency is not a choice—it's a disorder and should be treated as such.”

    One plan, effective immediately, allows pharmacists and other medical workers to distribute fentanyl testing strips.

    “We still have a long way to go, but removing penalties organizations face when they have access to test strips is a responsible way to address the opioid crisis and to create real public safety for all instead of continuing the misguided policies of the past,” said sponsor Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago.

    Another law, effective next year, requires pharmacists and those who prescribe opioids to inform patients of the addictive nature of the drugs and provide an option for an opioid antagonist.

    The third proposal, effective immediately, allows circuit courts to implement drug-court treatment programs.

     There were 3,013 deaths due to opioid overdose in Illinois last year, according to the Department of Public Health. It was a 2.3 percent increase from 2020 and a 35.8 percent increase from 2019. 

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  • 3 Jun 2022 4:00 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Three days after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, social worker and child therapist Bonnie Rumilly arrived in Newtown, Connecticut to help with crisis counseling. [MedPage Today] 

    It quickly became obvious that this would become "a long-term deployment," said Rumilly, who spent 4.5 years working with children who survived the attack.

    Full article here>

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