Disclaimer: Moving Health Care Upstream is a collaborative effort originally co-led by Nemours Children’s Health and the Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nemours, UCLA or the Moving Health Care Upstream initiative.

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Nemours Children’s Health Experts Outline Key Population Health Strategies in International Journal

Authors address school health centers, population health networks, pediatric payment models

Nemours Children’s Health is pleased to share highlights from a special section on population health published in the February edition of Current Opinion in Pediatrics.

The special section includes an invited editorial from Kara Odom Walker, MD, MPH, MSHS, executive vice president and chief population health officer at Nemours Children’s Health, as well as three review articles from Nemours Children’s experts. The three Nemours-authored review articles summarize current evidence and provide a framework for strategies to advance key aspects of pediatric population health: population health networks, alternate payment models, and school-based health centers. The special section includes three additional articles from other noted experts in the field. Four of the six articles are open access, available at no cost to the field at large. [Read more…]

Disclaimer: Moving Health Care Upstream is a collaborative effort originally co-led by Nemours Children’s Health and the Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nemours Children’s, UCLA or the Moving Health Care Upstream initiative.

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Moving the needle on measures of health and wellbeing for everyone living in a community requires collaboration between systems and sectors.

Bringing systems, sectors, and resources together to foster healthy, thriving communities is part of being a population health integrator. In addition to setting the table for population health networks to exist, integrators are organizations that agree to share responsibility for activities that strengthen and sustain networks- ensuring that network governance and leadership structures are inclusive, establishing data-sharing among network partners, building partner capacity, establishing joint advocacy agendas, planning for network sustainability, and the list goes on…

• With limited time and resources, how can population health integrators decide WHICH integrative activities to prioritize?
• And once they’ve decided, HOW do networks put these activities into action within day-to-day network operations?
• These action-oriented toolkits guide networks in making smart choices about which integrative activities to focus on and how to move into action as they collaborate to build health- including tools for assessment, alignment, action planning, and implementation.

We invite you to share your reflections and insights on the tools by emailing us at [email protected].

Toolkits were developed by Nemours Children’s Health as part of its Exploring the Roles & Functions of Health Systems within Population Health Integrator Networks initiative, with support from The Kresge Foundation.

Disclaimer: Moving Health Care Upstream is a collaborative effort originally co-led by Nemours Children’s Health and the Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nemours, UCLA or the Moving Health Care Upstream initiative.

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Authors:

• Joshua Ogburn, Manager of Policy
• Katie Boyer, Senior Advisor, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs
• Daniella Gratale, Director, Office of Child Health Policy & Advocacy

Poverty is the single largest driver of health according to the World Health Organization. A 2019 National Academies of Sciences report noted, “on average, a child growing up in a family whose income is below the poverty line experiences worse outcomes than a child from a wealthier family in virtually every dimension.”[i] Congress has an opportunity to ensure that children have a strong start in life by maintaining crucial anti-poverty provisions in the Build Back Better Act.

[Read more…]

Disclaimer: Moving Health Care Upstream is a collaborative effort originally co-led by Nemours Children’s Health System (Nemours) and the Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nemours Children’s, UCLA or the Moving Health Care Upstream initiative.

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Authors:
• Joshua Ogburn, Manager of Policy, Nemours Children’s Health
• Daniella Gratale, Director of the Office of Child Health Policy and Advocacy, Nemours Children’s Health
• Tyler Jakab, former Program and Policy Analyst, Nemours Children’s Health

A growing mental, emotional and behavioral (MEB) health crisis among children and youth has been unfolding as children and families have experienced economic, social, and emotional challenges compounded by the pandemic. While Congress and the Biden Administration have responded by making investments through COVID relief bills, including the American Rescue Plan (P.L. 117-2), federal leaders should take additional steps to holistically address the current crisis. To better understand the challenges and identify action steps, Nemours Children’s Health hosted convenings, wrote a letter to Congress in partnership with local and regional stakeholders, and developed an issue brief in partnership with Mental Health America that describes the state of MEB health among children and offers numerous federal policy recommendations.

The Issue [Read more…]

Disclaimer: Moving Health Care Upstream is a collaborative effort originally co-led by Nemours Children’s Health and the Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nemours Children’s, UCLA or the Moving Health Care Upstream initiative.

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Authors: Vy Oxman and Roshelle Payes

The COVID-19 pandemic has had serious impacts on the health and well-being of families and children, particularly among Black and Latino communities. Unemployment and poverty exacerbated the twin epidemics of food insecurity and obesity for children. As of June 2020, an estimated 14,000,000 children were not getting enough to eat. Research also shows an increase in childhood obesity since the onset of the pandemic that has widened pre-existing disparities. Additionally, the pandemic severely impacted the early care and education (ECE) sector, as child care programs faced lengthy closures, reduced enrollment, and financial constraints. In response, the President and Congress increased funding for federal programs that address food insecurity, early childhood, and the child care sector through the American Rescue Plan and other COVID-19 packages.[i] As the sector begins to recover, we must turn our focus to improving children’s health and well-being and addressing the inequities in communities most impacted by the pandemic. We urge Congress and the Biden Administration to focus on quality improvements in the ECE settings, not only for school readiness but to improve the health, nutrition and wellness of children.   [Read more…]