Investments in certain social services in Texas were associated with improvements in health outcomes, as measured by improvements in the County Health Rankings, in the years subsequent to spending increases. Similar analyses in other states and regions may yield actionable avenues for policy makers to improve population health.
Over the past several years, a dizzying array of new technology platforms have emerged with the shared aim of enabling health care organizations to more easily identify and refer patients to social service organizations. This guide was developed to help safety-net health care organizations understand the landscape of these community resource referral platforms and learn from early adopters’ experiences using them.
A majority of Texans say that reducing the number of women who die from causes related to pregnancy or childbirth should be a top priority for state lawmakers, even though few correctly knew about a recent increase in the state’s maternal mortality rate. That’s one of the findings of a newly released report based on a statewide Episcopal Health Foundation/Kaiser Family Foundation survey of Texas health policy issues.
In 2017, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) worked with the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO) and the Oregon Primary Care Association (OPCA) to construct and lead a year-long pilot to test the implementation of the standardized social determinants of health screening protocol known as PRAPARE (Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks, and Experiences) with three Texas health centers. This report documents successes and lessons learned over the past year. The report is sponsored by the Episcopal Health Foundation and St. David’s Foundation.
Increased public spending on services like public health, fire and ambulance, housing and community development, and libraries would likely lead to improved health outcomes for Texas counties. That’s just one of the findings of a new report sponsored by the Episcopal Health Foundation that examines the health impacts of increased government investment in public health and social services.
Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) in Texas are gaining momentum. This report provides a brief overview of MLP activity in Texas to explore the potential for MLP development in health centers in the Episcopal Health Foundation’s service area.