Volume 2021-01-26

CHI TIPbits

Timely Information and Points (TIP) for public health community providers from the Center for Health Innovation, New Mexico's Public Health Institute.

Greetings from the Center for Health Innovation (CHI), New Mexico's Public Health Institute. You've been recognized as one of the leading public health professionals in our state, which is why you have been sent our newest publication TIPbits. Every month, we will be sending out timely information and points to aid your efforts to foster better public health in the state. Feel free to share them with your networks and community. Thanks for all you do for New Mexico, and let us lend you a helping hand with TIPbits!

Funding & Sustainability The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) opened applications for the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Expansion Grants. Deadline: Mar. 1. The purpose of this program is to increase access to and improve the quality of community mental and substance use disorder treatment services through the expansion of these clinics.

Training & Professional Development

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), OMH Advisory Committee on Minority Health is seeking nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment as a member of the Advisory Committee on Minority Health. Nominations Deadline: Mar. 4.

For those working with LGBTQ2S+ youth, the National Council of Urban Indian Health is holding the Beyond Tolerance: Overcoming Barriers to Care for LGBTQ2S+ Youth During COVID Lockdown webinar on Jan. 27 from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. MST. There is a speaker from the Pueblos of Laguna and Jemez.

The APHA (American Public Health Association) is making educational sessions/presentations from its 2020 Annual Meeting available through Aug. 2021. Accessing these sessions can help you stay up to date on research, best practices, and (for some) earn CE credits. There are fees for accessing these sessions. For more info: APHA 2020 On-Demand for sessions for which CEs are not available; APHA's Featured Sessions for those providing CEs.

The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) is holding its virtual NHRA Rural Health Policy Institute on Feb. 9-11. Registration is $250/$125 for students. Come hear the new administration and Congress describe their plans to make health care work better in rural America.

Health Equity Resources

In a recent NEJM Catalyst interview, "Public Health and Population Health: Are They the Same Thing?", Commissioner of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Dave Chokshi, MD, MSc, made this quote on health equity for public health professionals: Health equity is not a sideshow; it’s not something that we need to do along with whatever the main event is in public health or health care. It is the main event. Health equity is what we have to solve if we’re actually delivering on that mission of improving health…When we think about equity, it’s not just about focusing on the data around disparities, but answering the "so what" question. How do we get to that point of community engagement, …so that we are having the sometimes difficult but honest conversations about how to be worthy of the trust of those communities?

Public transportation as a social determinant: check out the Urban Research Institute’s Urban Wire blog: "Four Lessons for Cities to Help Advance Equitable Transportation during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond." The blog reviews the revenue losses caused by the COVID pandemic, some cities have begun to disinvest in public transportation, an equity issue.

To fill inequitable COVID communication gaps, try these ASL (American Sign Language) videos from the CDC and essential COVID-19 information in Braille from the Accessible Materials and Culturally Relevant Messages for Individuals with Disabilities Project (Georgia Tech).

Policy

If you work on Medicaid issues, the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy will hold the free webinar, How Can the Biden Administration Improve the Medicaid program? on Feb. 3, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. MDT.

On Jan. 21, Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragán reintroduced the Improving Social Determinants of Health Act of 2021. The legislation, supported by 300+ agencies, creates a new SDoH program at CDC. Through grants, this program would empower public health departments and community organizations to lead efforts to build integrated systems that research and address the social factors that negatively impact health in their regions.

Tools and Resources

Though the push is on to get more COVID vaccines into the arms of Americans, there are many people concerned about vaccine safety. The de Beaumont Foundation has a Communications Cheat Sheet with language to build confidence in the vaccines.

Metal/behavioral health system: two new useful reports from the RAND Corporation. Research on opportunities to drive systemic improvements (Transforming Mental Health Care in the United States) and the other has recommendations for change-based on a broad review of policy (How to Transform the U.S. Mental Health System: Evidence-Based Recommendations).

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine published an article analyzing the cost-effectiveness of CDC's Tips from Former Smokers campaign from 2012-18. The campaign was associated with an estimated 129,100 premature deaths avoided, 803,800 life years gained, and $7.3 billion in healthcare sector cost savings on the basis of an estimated 642,200 campaign-associated lifetime quits.

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