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Call for Contributors

By | November 8, 2022

The Medical Care Blog is always looking for new contributors! We’re especially interested in people who can commit to writing one blog post per month or every 3 months. We are open to contributors at all stages of career development. Prior blogging experience preferred, but not required. Our posts cover a wide range of topics. Many… Read More »

Racial/Ethnic Concordance and Doctor Communication

By | March 14, 2024

Patient-provider racial/ethnic concordance (i.e., physician and patient identify as the same race/ethnicity) has emerged as one key suggestion for mitigating healthcare disparities. Past research has underlined its benefits, including improved infant mortality and more appropriate prescription regimens. However, the sum of the evidence remains unclear and many facets of the patient-provider relationship have yet to… Read More »

Health Equity in the Time of Hospital Consolidation

By | March 7, 2024

Competition between hospitals in a given market should provide incentives to ensure quality while also lowering costs. Over the past two decades, hospital markets have increasingly consolidated. This consolidation reduces competition and increases the comparative leverage that hospitals and associated health systems have. While there are some theoretical advantages of increased consolidation such as potential… Read More »

Healthy Intersections Podcast: Healthcare’s Carbon Footprint

By | February 28, 2024

If the US healthcare industry were its own country, it would be in the top 10% of all countries in greenhouse gas emissions. Welcome to the February, 2024 edition of the Healthy Intersections Podcast! This month, we sit down with David Introcaso, PhD, to discuss the healthcare industry’s carbon footprint. Dr. Introcaso is the host… Read More »

History of Climate Policy and Advocacy by the American Public Health Association

By | February 23, 2024

In January, the Medical Care Blog’s editors published a consensus statement on climate policy and health. This statement was co-signed by many of our authors, editors, and editorial board members of the Medical Care journal. As we look ahead to our focus theme for 2024, we want to begin with a look backward as well.… Read More »

Studying Patient Economic Outcomes

By | February 5, 2024

A special supplemental issue of Medical Care supports the growing recognition that patient economic outcomes matter in health care. Sponsored by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the issue highlights studies that explore the relationship between economic outcomes, patient care, health outcomes and equity. Patient-centered… Read More »

Social Determinants of Health Programs Improve Health Outcomes

By | February 1, 2024

The social determinants of health (SDOH), the conditions in which we are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age, have a significant impact on health outcomes. Research shows that a whopping 80-90% of health outcomes are dependent on SDOH factors, while medical care only accounts for about 10-20%. New clinical-community partnerships designed to address… Read More »

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Healthy Intersections Podcast: Talking About Plastics

By | January 26, 2024

January 2024 Edition Hello, and welcome to the Healthy Intersections Podcast, hosted here at The Medical Care Blog. We’re kicking off a year of climate action here on the podcast and blog. For our first episode of 2024, we interview Dr. Imari Walker-Franklin, a research chemist at RTI International, science communicator, and the co-author of… Read More »

Don’t “Stay In Your Lane”: Why Clinicians Should Be Activists For Social Change

It was the tweet heard around the healthcare world. In 2018, after the American College of Physicians had published their position paper advocating gun control as a public health imperative, the National Rifle Association posted a tweet starting: “Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane.” Clinicians immediately began posting images and… Read More »

Trending Toward Medicare Advantage for All

By | January 18, 2024

Medicare for All is Not Happening… 10 years from now will we have Medicare Advantage for All? Grandmother and granddaughter in the same health plan? Others have written that the US should achieve universal health insurance coverage, better health outcomes, and lower costs via comprehensive programs such as “Medicare for All”, as proposed by Senator… Read More »

Climate Change and Public Health Consensus Statement

From The Medical Care Blog: A special consensus statement on climate change and public health In 2021, more than 250 of the world’s leading medical and public health journals released a joint statement about climate change and public health. Published simultaneously, editorial boards of the journals declared climate change to be the “greatest threat” to… Read More »

Weathering and Its Impacts on Health

By | January 4, 2024

What comes to mind when you hear the word “weathering”? Perhaps you think of erosion, depletion, and wearing down. Or maybe enduring, surviving, and withstanding. All of these associations accurately describe what happens to our bodies in response to chronic stress. This particular type of physiological stress affects the brain and other parts of the… Read More »

Top Posts of 2023

By | December 27, 2023

This is the final post of 2023 here at The Medical Care Blog. To toast the year behind us we’ve compiled the year’s top 10 blog posts and highlighted some of the many milestones for our contributors and editorial team. Once again, we want to recognize YOU–our amazing readers and contributors. Since our founding in… Read More »

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Yearning for Change: Youth Activism and Civic Engagement in Public Health

By | December 21, 2023

The need for youth activism and civic engagement in public health has never been greater. A mentor once said, “When public health is doing its thing, you will never hear a word about it.” But today, the profession doesn’t have that luxury. We must act if we want public health to remain a strong and… Read More »

Effects of COVID-19 in ACA markets

In this post, we examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected frequencies of diagnoses and claims costs in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces in 2020 and 2021. The ACA marketplaces are critical sources of coverage for millions of Americans and were increasingly so during the COVID-19 pandemic due to job losses and coverage disruptions. The… Read More »

Special Issue of Medical Care: Implementation and Cost of evidence-based, patient-centered programs

By | November 30, 2023

As part of its partnership with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Medical Care has published its first PCORI-sponsored article collection, which provides specific information about the costs that healthcare systems can expect to incur in promoting the uptake of specific evidence-based programs. In September’s special issue, five project teams that received Implementation Award funding from PCORI… Read More »

Health Plans With Deductibles See Lower Lung Cancer Screening Rates

By | November 22, 2023

The United States Preventive Services Task Force has recommended lung cancer screening for at-risk groups since 2013, and updated again in 2021. This is a simple procedure involving a low dose of radiation used to take a CT image of the chest. If utilized by most eligible Americans, screening could reduce lung cancer mortality by… Read More »

Healthy Intersections Podcast: November 2023

By | February 17, 2024

This month’s podcast focuses on structural racism. Welcome to the Healthy Intersections podcast for November, 2023. This month’s podcast focuses on structural racism in the United States. Joining us to talk about the new Structural Racism Effect Index (SREI) is Dr. Zach Dyer, lead author on the analysis. Check out the dashboard at SREIndex.com and… Read More »

Making PrEP Accessible to Patients Experiencing Homelessness

By | November 9, 2023

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has gone from a deadly infection to a manageable health condition in the last thirty years. Today, we have medications available that can treat those with HIV and prevent HIV in uninfected people. Pre-exposure prophylaxis, also known as PrEP, is a medication given to individuals without HIV to keep them from… Read More »

Meet the Blog’s Newest Addition to the Editorial Team: Ben King

By | November 9, 2023

Ben King is joining our editorial team at The Medical Care Blog! Dr. King (he/him) is currently an Assistant Professor of Population Health at the new Tilman J Fertitta Family College of Medicine at the University of Houston. He has additional appointments in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, with the UH-Humana Integrated Health… Read More »

A Significant Step Toward Single Payer Health Care in California

By | October 26, 2023

California just took a significant step toward single payer health care. On Oct 7, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 770 (Unified Health Care Financing) into law. Introduced by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), the law directs the Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency to research, develop and pursue a waiver framework… Read More »

Healthy Intersections Podcast: October 2023

By | February 17, 2024

This month’s topic focuses on suicide and social determinants of health (SDoH) Welcome to the Healthy Intersections podcast for October, 2023. Today’s podcast focuses on the links between suicide and social determinants of health in the United States. Suicide is one of the causes of deaths of despair, along with deaths from drugs and alcohol.… Read More »

Postpartum Depression is Overlooked and Undertreated

By | October 10, 2023

The postpartum period, recognized as the fourth trimester or the 12 weeks after birth, is often overlooked. In 2021, 52% of all maternal deaths occurred during the postpartum period. And mental health was the top underlying cause, accounting for 23% of all deaths (mostly suicides and overdoses related to substance use disorder). More than 60%… Read More »

Improving Pathways Into Health Care and Public Health to Increase Diversity

By | October 4, 2023

Representation matters to health. Improving pathways into health care and public health is an important way to increase workforce diversity. This is a crucial step in reducing health disparities and advancing health equity in the U.S.   Black, Latinx, and American Indian and Alaska Native communities face higher rates of chronic and life-threatening health conditions. Yet… Read More »

Healthy Intersections Podcast: September 2023

By | February 17, 2024

Happy fall! This month’s Healthy Intersections Podcast focuses on food and climate — a timely topic during the fall harvest months. Food insecurity and food quality are known as important social determinants of health. For example, the percent of residents receiving food assistance (eg, SNAP) is associated with neighborhood life expectancy. On the other hand,… Read More »

Health effects of tech overload: Can public health see it?

By | August 31, 2023

What if there was a public health problem so big that even public health leaders were too enmeshed in its grip to be able to warn against its perils? I worry that we are in that very conundrum with regard to our relationship with technology. It has accelerated from being part of our world to… Read More »

Beyond COVID and Opioids: Contextualizing Life Expectancy Decline in the United States

By | September 18, 2023

This entry was one of the winners of our Summer 2023 student blog contest! Trends in Life Expectancy The recent decline in life expectancy in the United States is largely attributed to the well-known COVID-19 pandemic and opioid epidemic. However, these recent crises are not the sole drivers of the stagnation and subsequent drop in… Read More »

Negative Health Outcomes of American Anti-LGBTQ Laws

By | September 8, 2023

This entry was one of the winners of our Summer 2023 student blog contest! Anti-LGBTQ laws are flooding the United States. As of June, a historic 491 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in 2023 – a 203% increase from the entire 2022 year. More bills were introduced in the first three months of 2023 than… Read More »

Getting postpartum care is unaffordable for many women

By | August 22, 2023

Known as the fourth trimester of care, postpartum care has become unaffordable for many women. The costs of care are increasing, due to rising deductibles, increasing chronic diseases, and a lack of access to Medicaid. While postpartum care technically refers to the 12-week period after delivery, there is a movement to recognize that adequate postpartum… Read More »

Healthy Intersections Podcast: August 2023

By | February 17, 2024

Hi everyone! We’re excited to share the August edition of our Healthy Intersections Podcast with you. This month, we hosted Dr. Amanda Onwuka, a social epidemiologist and health services researcher at RTI International, as well as Jeremy Ney, author of American Inequality. We talk about the epidemic of drug overdose deaths in the US, mental… Read More »

How do lower-income enrollees use care on ACA marketplaces?

The ACA marketplaces continue to be an important source of health insurance for millions of Americans. Achieving health equity for these enrollees may require more than simply providing coverage. The number of individuals who selected a Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plan increased from 8 million [PDF] in 2014 to 16 million [PDF] in 2023.… Read More »

Health equity: mistakes to avoid when conducting research

By | August 3, 2023

A special dispatch from AcademyHealth’s Annual Research Meeting in Seattle, June 2023 This post recaps a panel discussion focused on Measuring Impact of Policy Strategies on Health Equity. I was fortunate to be among the panelists. My talk focused on 7 common mistakes when conducting evaluation and health equity-focused research. In this post, I share… Read More »

Healthy Intersections Podcast: July 2023

By | July 21, 2023

Welcome to the July 2023 episode of the Healthy Intersections podcast! This month, we talk about the state of Florida with Lauren Pierce, who formerly worked at the Florida Department of Public Health and is a long-term resident of Tallahassee. We debut the brand new RTI Rarity™ interactive national dashboard and focus on northern Florida,… Read More »

If Medicare builds it, can FQHCs come?

Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center announced its newest alternative payment model for primary care, Making Care Primary (MCP). MCP builds upon lessons learned from previous CMS primary care models: the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) initiative, the Maryland Primary Care Program, and Primary… Read More »

Reducing the Harms of Substance Use: Lessons From Abroad

By | July 4, 2023

The way we’re addressing substance use and overdoses in the United States isn’t working. Let’s be perfectly clear: the “war on drugs” isn’t, and never was, really a war on drugs. It’s been a war waged on communities who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). The war on drugs started well before President… Read More »

Improving Home and Community-Based Services for People with Dementia

Over the past 25 years, significant strides have been made in shifting services for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease to home and community settings. Home and community-based services (HCBS) enable people with various forms of dementia to receive care in a familiar setting while promoting their independence, well-being, and overall quality of life. As… Read More »

Public Health Saved Your Life Today: Insight From Dr. Leana Wen

Public health saved your life today, but you probably didn’t know it. That was one of the valuable take-home messages from Dr. Leana Wen, when she spoke to public health students and early career professionals at California State University Los Angeles. Dr. Wen was the culminating speaker in our semester-long series on public health leadership.… Read More »

Healthy Intersections Podcast: June 2023

By | June 19, 2023

Welcome to the June 2023 episode of the Healthy Intersections podcast! This month, we sit down again with Carol Schmitt, Chief Scientist at RTI International, along with Juliet Sheridan, to talk about another of the RTI Rarity interactive state maps. This time, we are looking at North Carolina. We talk about historical redlining, climate change,… Read More »

See Yourself as a Leader: A Conversation with Jackie Valenzuela

See yourself as a leader. That is one of the key messages from Jackie Valenzuela, Chief Advisor to the County Health Officer of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. She has held multiple leadership positions within the one of nation’s largest public health departments. And she recounts coming to them by being open… Read More »

Don’t Wait to Lead: A Conversation with Dr. Chris Chanyasulkit

Don’t wait to lead. That is a key message from Dr. Chris Chanyasulkit, the president of the American Public Health Association (APHA). And it resonates with many students and early career professionals anxious to make a change. Our conversation with Dr. Chanyasulkit was the first in a series on public health leadership. The Department of… Read More »

Racial Justice Reframing: A Shift in Perspective

By | May 31, 2023

Racial justice reframing is the process of shifting our attention from individual choices to the many structural and societal factors that contribute to health inequities. This framing allows us to picture a world where values of equity, shared responsibility, and community care are paramount. We see a world where everyone – regardless of their identities… Read More »

Healthy Intersections podcast: May, 2023

By | May 19, 2023

Welcome to the May, 2023 episode of the Healthy Intersections podcast! This month, we sit down again with Carol Schmitt, Chief Scientist at RTI International, to talk about another of the RTI Rarity interactive state maps. This time, we are looking at Oklahoma. You can watch the episode, download the audio file, and read the… Read More »

The U.S. Pandemic Public Health Emergency Declaration Has Ended

By | May 13, 2023

The pandemic public health emergency declaration ends today in the United States. Here, I share a look back and what to expect going forward. One thing is clear: with this change in designation, the U.S. has revealed that its public health preparedness was always meant to be temporary. Where we started It was December 12,… Read More »

Student Blog Contest!

By | May 8, 2023

Now more than ever, we need students engaged in improving healthcare access, delivery, and quality. The Medical Care Blog is committed to elevating student voices on these and other public health topics. To encourage excellent student blog posts, we are sponsoring a blogging competition with the Medical Care Section of the American Public Health Association. Our first… Read More »

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Designing From the Margins to Advance Equity

By | May 2, 2023

“Access for the sake of access or inclusion is not necessarily liberatory, but access done in the service of love, justice, connection, and community is liberatory and has the power to transform.” – Mia Mingus, community organizer, disability and transformative justice advocate  Are you designing with equity and inclusion in mind? For public health and… Read More »

Using data-driven quality measurement and analytics to build health equity

By | April 27, 2023

The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underserved communities underscored the need for systemic change and renewed efforts to reduce health disparities in people with social risks.  This post describes a partnership between Inovalon and Humana to develop a new health equity composite quality measure to identify disadvantaged populations with the largest care disparities and determine… Read More »

Racial and ethnic segregation in primary care

By | April 20, 2023

Primary care in the US is segregated by racial/ethnic identification. What are the implications? Most people in the US are aware that our neighborhoods are often highly segregated by race and ethnicity. Racism — historical and current, structural and individual — plays a role in neighborhood demographics. The same forces also result in segregated workplaces,… Read More »

Healthy Intersections Podcast: April 2023

By | April 24, 2023

Originally published April 6, 2023; updated April 24, 2023 to add audio links. Welcome! April 2023 marks a new milestone for the Healthy Intersections Podcast (HIP), sponsored by the American Public Health Association’s Medical Care Section. I’m taking on the role of the main producer of HIP. We’re also moving to a video AND audio… Read More »

Pain: no longer a vital sign?

By | April 7, 2023

Pain was widely under-treated in the 1980s. Two decades ago, pain was recognized as an important problem that needed to be managed by healthcare providers. Today, the opioid crisis has led to under-treatment once again. Professional recognition of pain as a symptom that needs managing was the eventual outcome of several decades of research. Again… Read More »