Tag: West Virginia University School of Public Health.

State Agencies Release Major Plan to Improve State's Healthcare System

The Department of Health and Human Resources and the West Virginia University School of Public Health released a major plan this week to improve the state’s healthcare system.

The two agencies recommend that a third, independent nonprofit group be founded. This nonprofit would coordinate state and federal healthcare resources and oversee the transition from fee-for-service payment (you pay based on the services you receive) to value-based healthcare (you pay based on your health outcomes).

The WVU School of Public Health developed the plan on behalf of the DHHR over the course of 18 months. The two agencies submitted the plan to the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which originally awarded funds for the plan’s development. The CMS federal grant program provides funding so states can develop plans to improve quality of care and reduce costs to consumers. West Virginia received almost 2 million dollars.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.

"100 Years of Poor Health" Kicks Off W.Va. Public Health Dialogue

West Virginia University’s School of Public Health is kicking off a series of monthly Public Health Dialogues this week. The first in the series is titled “Black Lung and Chemical Spills: 100 years of Poor Health in West Virginia.”

Award-winning journalist Chris Hamby, policy think-tank director Ted Boettner, and public health researcher Dr. Stephen Woolf will be panelists discussing recent insights into West Virginia’s health disparities and economic challenges. The talk is free and open to the public. It begins at noon on Friday, 9/5, at the WVU Health Sciences Center in Morgantown.

Panelists:

  • Chris Hamby is an investigative reporter for the website Buzzfeed. His series “Breathless and Burdened”–about Black Lung– won him the 2014 Pulitzer Prize.
  • Steven H. Woolf, M.D., M.P.H. is the director of the  Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health. His studies focus on how addressing poverty can have a larger impact on the overall health of Americans than investiments in medical technology.
  • Ted Boettner is the director of policy think tank The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy which studies state budget and tax issues, economic development, and family economic security.

Future topics for the Public Health Dialogues hosted by WVU include “The State of Health in West Virginia” on Oct. 3; “The Social Determinants of Health” on Nov. 7; and “A Comprehensive, Community-Based Opiod Overdose Program” on Dec. 5.

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