Behavioral Health and Public Policy

Behavioral health advocates ended a decade-long push for equity within private health insurance plans that cover mental health and addiction services with the passing of a new law that requires group health insurers to offer coverage for mental illness and substance use disorders on the same terms as physical illnesses.

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CHIP Reauthorization: Details and Implications

This Issue Focus article summarizes a February 2009 Grantmakers In Health audio conference, which discussed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 and featured Cindy Mann, executive director of the Center for Children and Families at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute.

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Seeing the Future with 20/20 Vision

The resource portfolio from GIH’s 2009 annual meeting Seeing the Future with 20/20 Vision features six essays.

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Bridging, Building, and Beyond: Breaking Down Barriers to Health Improvement

This resource portfolio from GIH’s 2008 annual meeting Bridging, Building, and Beyond: Breaking Down Barriers to Health Improvement, features six essays written by GIH staff.

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Establishing Public-Private Partnerships for Maternal and Child Health

Established in 1935 under Title V of the Social Security Act, the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant is one of the largest federal block grant programs and a critical source of flexible funding for public health. Commonly referred to as Title V, the MCH block grant is used to support core MCH public health functions in states, assess needs, and identify and address gaps in services.

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Pediatric Medical Homes: The What and Why of It All

The “medical home” encompasses the places, people, and processes involved in providing comprehensive primary care services. Medical homes replace episodic patient care with a holistic approach fostering ongoing physician-patient relationships, systematic care coordination, and addressing the “whole person.” They also must deliver physician-directed patient care that is accessible, family-centered, comprehensive, continuous, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective.

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Social Policy Is Health Policy

Decades of research and practical experience in the United States and other countries have shown that a number of economic and social factors – education, income, occupation, wealth, housing, neighborhood environment, race and ethnicity – have a powerful influence on health. This link between social position and health status is predictable, persistent, problematic, and – we hope – preventable.

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Health Information Technology: Increasing Quality and Access within Safety Net Providers

Health foundations are uniquely positioned to help safety net providers reach their full health information technology potential, and by providing various means of support, foundations can help to bridge competitive tensions that often derail cooperation.

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Creating Public Will to End Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

Each year disparities in health status and health care take a toll on members of racial and ethnic minority groups that translates into preventable illness and death. If the United States eliminated the black-white mortality gap alone, it has been estimated that as many as 84,000 deaths could be prevented annually.

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Infant Mortality: Racial and Regional Disparities

Infant mortality is an important measure of maternal and child health status, as well as a broader indicator of a society’s health and well-being. In the United States infant mortality rates have held stubbornly at about 7 percent for the last 10 years. This statistic, however, masks significant racial and regional disparities.

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