Publications and Briefs
School-based health centers (SBHCs) are uniquely positioned to screen for and treat stress and trauma, advocate for trauma-informed emergency responses, and promote positive mental outcomes. This is especially important as students, parents, school staff, and policy makers continue to grapple with gun violence in schools. Our latest piece in Health Affairs Forefront examines the school violence epidemic and the role SBHCs can play in response.
In this Forefront piece, our 2024 Policy Intern Mia Shenkman outlines steps Health Centers can adopt to comprehensively integrate harm reduction into their practices and to more effectively address the overdose crisis in the communities they serve.
We are excited to share our latest Health Affairs Forefront op-ed addressing how voice-based telepsychiatry (audio only) results in equitable access to psychiatric care, particularly among patient groups who are less likely to use other modalities. With all telehealth flexibilities expiring at the end of 2024, we advocate for the permanent adoption and coverage of voice-based telepsychiatry and recommend measures to incorporate it into policies to promote equity. This was a collaboration with staff from Research and CHCI.
In this piece for the Medical Care Blog, sponsored by the Medical Care Section of the American Public Health Association, we discuss maternal health disparities, initiatives under attack, and innovative programs working toward healthy moms and babies.
Community health workers (CHWs) play an integral role in connecting people to social and community services. We explore their potential role in the youth mental health crisis from a CHW’s perspective, summarize existing issues, and offer policy recommendations, in our latest Health Affairs Forefront piece.
In alignment with its mission to promote equity and optimize health outcomes for vulnerable populations through innovative research, education, and policy, the Weitzman Institute hosted several leading global and domestic AI and healthcare technology subject matter experts in a two-part webinar series titled “AI in Healthcare.” Participants discussed the use of AI in primary care and the ways safety-net providers can harness the power of AI to better serve their most vulnerable patients. This brief highlights the main discussion points of each webinar.
2022 Symposium Session Briefs
Read the 2022 Symposium Session Briefs covering the theme Reimagining Primary Care through a Health Justice Lens.
- Keynote Presentation #1: The Fight for Health Justice: Old and New Challenges in the Syndemic of Racism, Climate Change and COVID-19
- Keynote Presentation #2: Moving Upstream: Barriers and Opportunities to Optimizing and Creating a More Equitable Healthcare System
- Panel Presentation #1: Building a Diverse Primary Care Workforce to Promote the Health and Human Rights of Marginalized Populations
- Panel Presentation #2: Transforming Primary Care and Achieving Health Equity through Digital Health
People identifying as women, particularly Black women, experience significant barriers to accessing HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP). National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, observed in March each year, makes this an ideal time to examine these disparities and suggest ways to mitigate these health inequities. Read more in our latest Health Affairs Forefront piece.
Our latest article in Health Affairs highlights the crisis in Black maternal health outcomes, and discusses how attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the health care workforce threaten to make this problem worse. Research shows the positive impact Black providers have on health outcomes in Black communities. In honor of Black History Month, we review and advocate for policies that help to increase the number of Black health care professionals, including doctors, midwives, and doulas.
This issue brief explores key benefits of play in early childhood and highlights impacts of healthcare-based play promotion programs, such as the Prescription for Play (P4P) initiative. Developed and funded by LEGO® Foundation and Group and currently delivered by Weitzman Institute, this program has pediatric clinicians educate caregivers of 18- to 36-month-olds about the importance of play, and equip them with the tools necessary to engage children in high-quality play.
In honor of World AIDS Day, and in alignment with AcademyHealth and the Weitzman Institute’s commitment to center the voices of lived experiences, this blog highlights patient/patient partners’ perspectives on challenges that patients living with HIV/AIDs experience in obtaining oral health care.
The 2023 Weitzman Institute Virtual Symposium, “Tackling Old Problems with New Solutions in Primary Care,” provided a unique opportunity to hear from some of the nation’s top thought leaders, researchers, clinicians, and entrepreneurs on pressing issues, including mental health, community violence and trauma, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and big data. The Symposium offered a forum for exploring primary care’s challenge of dismantling persistent inequities and recreating and advocating for a more just healthcare system that better meets the needs of its workforce, patients, and communities, particularly those most in need.
The number of states passing legislation banning access to gender-affirming health care for transgender and nonbinary youth has increased dramatically in the last year. Weitzman staff’s new piece in Health Affairs Forefront examines how these bans have impacted transgender youth of color and propose multisector recommendations to protect this vulnerable group.
Medical Assistant (MA) is one of the fastest growing healthcare professions, with the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics predicting MA positions will grow by 18% between 2020 and 2030. The Weitzman Institute’s new commentary published in the Journal of Allied Health discusses how the experience and knowledge MAs gain during their education and training provides a foundation for advancement into other healthcare occupations that could be leveraged to support efforts to diversify the healthcare workforce. The piece, a collaboration with the National Institute for Medical Assistant Advancement, also highlights how the lack of federal investment in medical assistant education and training, and the lack of established education and career pathways that build on medical assisting, is a missed opportunity to better meet the workforce development needs of our primary care delivery system.
While some women in Ohio seek care with women’s health providers such as obstetrician-gynecologists, many others, especially those in resource-limited areas, receive care only from their primary care provider. This policy brief examines the barriers to care related to women’s health in Ohio identified by participants of the Weitzman Project ECHO Women’s Health continuing education series and provides policy recommendations on how to address those barriers.
There is growing concern nationally about the threat that climate change poses to maternal health through the increase in global temperatures, extreme weather events, and the emission of greenhouse gases. A collaboration between community-based doulas and Federally Qualified Health Centers can be a novel approach to mitigating the impacts of climate change on pregnant people in underserved communities.
With the rising costs of food and families having less money to spend, schools, now more than ever, are playing an important role in keeping youth fed who may be facing food insecurity. The Weitzman Institute’s new piece, “Addressing Food Insecurity in School-Based Settings: Keeping Youth Fed as Costs Rise” provides an overview of the important services and resources schools provide to students who face hunger, including on-site food pantries, school meal programs, and school-based health centers. It also discusses recent federal action to address this issue and what steps should be taken to ensure students can continue to access food while at school.
Federally Qualified Health Centers are uniquely positioned to address environmental justice as part of their mission to promote the health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable members of society. There are several ways in which they can have a direct impact on the patients and communities they serve by supporting environmental justice efforts.
As the use of connected devices rises, an understanding of how digital health technologies can be used for equitable healthcare across diverse communities is needed. The six Federally Qualified Health Centers involved in the NIH All of Us Research Program, including Community Health Center, Inc./Weitzman Institute, surveyed more than 1,000 adult patients regarding wearable fitness trackers. Findings indicate the majority expressed interest in having fitness trackers. Barriers included cost and lack of information, revealing that broad digital health device adoption requires education, investment, and high-touch methods.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years). They are a major public health concern with high potential to worsen as a result of the health, social, and economic repercussions of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
This policy brief looks at how the health, social, and economic impact of COVID-19 may result in an increases in ACEs, especially in our most vulnerable populations, and discusses the public health responses needed to effectively address ACEs in our communities.