As discussions on contemporary learners continue at the Department of Education, the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) and the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) released four policy briefs on digital learning. The educational landscape has changed from full-time college-aged students to more part-time learners with jobs and families. The briefs can be found below.
Physician Burnout Declines
For the first time since 2011, the physician burnout rate has dropped below 50% among doctors in the U.S., according to a new triennial study conducted by researchers from the AMA, the Mayo Clinic, and Stanford University School of Medicine. Although the decrease is welcome news, more work is needed to achieve meaningful change.
An article in Mayo Clinical Proceedings can be obtained at https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(18)30938-8/fulltext.
Apply Now for ASAHP's Scholarship of Excellence
The purpose of the scholarship program is to recognize outstanding students in the allied health professions who are achieving excellence in their academic programs and have significant potential to assume future leadership roles in the allied health professions. The selected student will receive a $1,000 scholarship. This year's deadline is Friday, June 7, 2019.
More info: http://www.asahp.org/scholarship
Promoting Health And Cost Control In States
Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) created Promoting Health and Cost Control in States (PHACCS), an initiative that pinpoints the most promising evidence-based policies to provide state leaders with policy recommendations to best promote healthy lifestyles and control costs. A new report is the first publication of the PHACCS initiative.
The report can be obtained at https://www.tfah.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2019-PHACCS-Report_FINAL.pdf.
Status And Trends In The Education Of Racial And Ethnic Groups
A report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) profiles current conditions and recent trends in the education of students by racial and ethnic group. It summarizes data on topics such as demographics; pre-primary, elementary, and secondary participation; student achievement; student behaviors; and persistence in education, post-secondary education, and outcomes of education.
The report can be obtained at https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019038.pdf.
Institutional Eligibility For Participation In Title IV Student Financial Aid Programs
A report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) first describes the types of institutions eligible to participate in Title IV programs and discusses the program integrity triad. It then discusses additional issues related to institutional eligibility, including program participation agreements, required campus safety policies and crime reporting, and distance and correspondence education.
The report can be obtained at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43159.pdf.
National Health Expenditure Projections For 2018-2027
National spending on healthcare is projected to grow 5.5% between 2018 and 2027, according to the CMS Office of the Actuary's annual report. This growth would outpace average projected GDP growth by 0.8%. The forecast means the healthcare segment of the U.S. economy would climb to 19.4% by 2027, up from 17.9% just two years ago.
A summary of the forecast can be obtained at https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/Downloads/ForecastSummary.pdf.
Prices Have More Impact On Health Care Spending Than Utilization
The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) released its annual Health Care Cost and Utilization Report for 2017, finding that per-person health care spending grew by 4.2 percent in 2017 while utilization did not change significantly. The increase in spending exceeded per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the second year in a row. According to the report, average annual spending among individuals with employer-sponsored health insurance was $5,641.
More information can be obtained at https://www.healthcostinstitute.org/news/entry/2017-hccur.
Returning To School After Age 50
In the area of higher education, The Hechinger Report examines the question of how common is the practice of returning to school for vocational training in workers over age 40, 50, & 60? Challenges are described that older individuals confront when deciding to go back to school.
The report can be obtained at https://hechingerreport.org/going-back-to-school-after-50/.
Spring 2019 IPEC Institute - Building a Framework for Collaboration
The Spring 2019 IPEC Institute is returning to the popular theme of building a framework for interprofessional education for collaborative practice (IPECP). Attendees will engage with national leaders in acquiring the building blocks for IPECP and will spend significant time planning, building, designing, assessing, acting and communicating their IPECP goals.
More info is available here.
Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Winter Council Meeting Report
The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) held its Winter Council Meeting, which primarily serves as a business meeting, last week in Washington, D.C. ASAHP is one of 21 members of IPEC, and was represented by Anthony Breitbach PhD, ATC, FASAHP. The meeting featured several announcements, and topics of discussion included the evaluation report from the IPEC Planning Committee on the Faculty Development Institutes, Health Profession Accreditors Collaborative (HPAC) guidance, and IPEC’s Strategic Framework.
A report on the IPEC Winter Council Meeting may be found here.
Deadline for 2019 USPHS IPEC Award Extended to Friday, March 1
The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) and the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) are pleased to announce that the application deadline for the 2019 Public Health Excellence in Interprofessional Education (IPE) Collaborative Award has been extended to Friday, March 1.
The USPHS IPEC Award is awarded annually to interprofessional health education teams that have significantly impacted the community through multidisciplinary collaboration on a program geared toward improving health knowledge, awareness, and behavior.
Click here for more info.
Pell Grant Reform Simulator
If the Higher Education Act is reauthorized this year, Congress will have an opportunity to modernize the Pell grant program, which makes college more affordable for low-income students. A tool from the Urban Institute makes it possible to simulate the effects of modifications to the Pell program to see how program costs and grant amounts would change and which students would be affected. Users can change the program’s generosity within the current formula or experiment with a simplified system.
The simulator can be obtained at https://apps.urban.org/features/pell-simulator/.
Dept of Education Accreditation Proposal Changed
The Department of Education released a proposal in January 2019 that would have required regional accreditators to operate in at least three but not more than nine states and would have removed the fifty percent cap on outsourced degree programs. This week, the Dept of Ed backtracked on those two recommendations, due to criticism from organizations and colleges. The proposal does maintain that branch campuses must be within a certain region, which may create issues for institutions with campuses in various states.
Read the full article from Inside Higher Ed here.
IPEC Webinar on Academic-Clinical Partnerships
The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) is proud to announce its first 2019 webinar featuring a presentation on developing successful academic-clinical partnerships to advance interprofessional education for collaborative practice (IPECP).
Join us on Tuesday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m. ET for a FREE webinar featuring Dr. Jeffrey W. Morgan (A.T. Still University of Health Sciences School of Osteopathic Medicine) and Ms. Jacqueline J. Spiegel (Midwestern University College of Health Sciences). Dr. Morgan and Ms. Spiegel will provide key insights on the development, execution and results of their interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional practice (IPP) programs. Webinar panelists will share effective methods for bridging successful IPE and IPP.
To register and find more info, click here. Learn more about the IPEC or visit their site.
How to Make Hospital Price Transparency Useful to Patients
As of January 2019, U.S. hospitals have been required to publish list prices on their websites for all services they provide to patients. A new post from the Commonwealth Fund discusses why price transparency, in the absence of corresponding information about quality and out-of-pocket-costs, can lead to poor health care choices and higher costs.
The post can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2019/hospital-price-transparency-making-it-useful-patients.
CMS Advances Interoperability & Patient Access To Health Data Through New Proposals
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed policy changes supporting its MyHealthEData initiative to improve patient access and advance electronic data exchange and care coordination throughout the health care system.
More information can be obtained at https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/cms-advances-interoperability-patient-access-health-data-through-new-proposals.
Older Americans Act
A new report from the AARP Public Policy Institute provides information about the Older Americans Act (OAA), which furnishes critical services that help approximately 11 million older adults live as independently as possible. In fiscal year 2019, OAA federal funding was $2.06 billion. Funding for the program has failed to keep up with inflation and increased demand from a rapidly aging population.
The report can be obtained at https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2019/02/older-americans-act.pdf.
Challenges Facing Rural Communities And Ensuring Access To Care
A new report from the American Hospital Association (AHA) outlines the challenges affecting rural communities and opportunities in the form of a road map to ensure access to high-quality affordable care.
The report can be obtained at https://www.aha.org/system/files/2019-02/rural-report-2019.pdf?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=02042019-at-memnonfed&utm_campaign=aha-today.
New Prevention Research Centers Website Launched
CDC's Prevention Research Centers (PRC) Program announced the launch of its new PRC website. This resource offers quick and easy ways to access information about PRC research and Special Interest Projects, including study findings categorized by health topic.
The website can be accessed at https://www.cdc.gov/prc/index.htm.