A Review of Unsolicited Comments on the CAHPS 5.0 Health Plan Survey.

The CAHPS Health Plan Survey (CAHPS 5.0) collects invaluable information regarding consumer experiences with their health plans, and these data inform healthcare policies at both the state and federal levels. The purpose of this paper was to explore unsolicited comments provided on the CAHPS 5.

Social factors and public policies associated with state infant mortality rates.

Despite mounting evidence that social factors and public policies affect state infant mortality rates (IMRs), few researchers have examined variation in IMRs associated with those factors and policies. We quantified disparities in infant mortality by state social factors and public policy characteristics. We hypothesized that some social factors and public policies would be more strongly associated with infant mortality than others, and that states with similar factors and policies would form clusters with varying levels of infant mortality.

Pediatric dental care use and parent- or caregiver-rated oral health among Alabama children enrolled in Medicaid.

Background: Reducing caries and improving access to dental care is a public health challenge. Understanding low use of dental care is of critical importance. This study estimated parent- or caregiver-reported prevalence and identified factors associated with children's dental care use, including the association with children's oral health.

Pediatric Practice Readiness for Disaster Response.

Objectives: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) calls for the inclusion of office-based pediatricians in disaster preparedness and response efforts. However, there is little research about disaster preparedness and response on the part of pediatric practices. This study describes the readiness of pediatric practices to respond to disaster and delineates factors associated with increased preparedness.

Man Versus Machine: Comparing Double Data Entry and Optical Mark Recognition for Processing CAHPS Survey Data.

Objective: Historically, double data entry (DDE) has been considered the criterion standard for minimizing data entry errors. However, previous studies considered data entry alternatives through the limited lens of data accuracy. This study supplies information regarding data accuracy, operational efficiency, and cost for DDE and Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) for processing the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems 5.

Promoting Continuous Quality Improvement in the Alabama Child Health Improvement Alliance Through Q-Sort Methodology and Learning Collaboratives.

Objective: Q-sort methodology is an underutilized tool for differentiating among multiple priority measures. The authors describe steps to identify, delimit, and sort potential health measures and use selected priority measures to establish an overall agenda for continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities within learning collaboratives.

Methods: Through an iterative process, the authors vetted a list of potential child and adolescent health measures.

Identifying Continuous Quality Improvement Priorities in Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting.

Objective: The purpose of this article was to describe a methodology to identify continuous quality improvement (CQI) priorities for one state's Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program from among the 40 required constructs associated with 6 program benchmarks. The authors discuss how the methodology provided consensus on system CQI quality measure priorities and describe variation among the 3 service delivery models used within the state.

Design: Q-sort methodology was used by home visiting (HV) service delivery providers (home visitors) to prioritize HV quality measures for the overall state HV system as well as their service delivery model.

Planning and executing complex large-scale exercises.

Introduction: Increasingly, public health departments are designing and engaging in complex operations-based full-scale exercises to test multiple public health preparedness response functions. The Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) supplies benchmark guidelines that provide a framework for both the design and the evaluation of drills and exercises; however, the HSEEP framework does not seem to have been designed to manage the development and evaluation of multiple, operations-based, parallel exercises combined into 1 complex large-scale event.

Methods: Lessons learned from the planning of the Mississippi State Department of Health Emergency Support Function--8 involvement in National Level Exercise 2011 were used to develop an expanded exercise planning model that is HSEEP compliant but accounts for increased exercise complexity and is more functional for public health.

A Regional Public Health Field Placement Program: making an IMPACT.

Beginning in 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, made provisions in its Public Health Training Center cooperative agreements for field placements.

The effects of the April 2011 tornado outbreak on personal preparedness in Jefferson County, Alabama.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a tornado disaster on the personal preparedness of local residents to determine (1) to what extent the tornado outbreak experience had altered preparedness awareness, willingness to act, and levels of personal preparedness of residents as measured by possession of a preparedness kit; and (2) what effect this experience had on the variables associated with having a complete disaster preparedness kit.

Design: Two random digit-dialed surveys were completed following the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System protocols. The pre-tornado survey was conducted between October and December 2010 and the post-tornado survey was conducted between January and March 2012.

Influenza immunization in older adults with and without cancer.

Objectives: To compare the likelihood of receiving an influenza immunization in older adults before and immediately after a cancer diagnosis occurring in 2001 and for the same time periods with older adults not diagnosed with cancer.

Design: Retrospective analysis comparing influenza immunization rates of Medicare beneficiaries with and without a diagnosis of cancer.

Setting: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare Data.

Southeastern Regional Pediatric Disaster Surge Network: a public health partnership.

In the event of a natural or man-made disaster involving large numbers of children, resources in the Southeastern U.S. are extremely limited.

Creating a regional pediatric medical disaster preparedness network: imperative and issues.

Over the past few decades, the number of disasters, both natural and human initiated has increased. As a result, since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, there has been a new emphasis on disaster preparedness. However, the preparedness emphasis has been primarily directed toward adults and little attention has been specifically given to the needs of children.