Comfort With Telehealth Among Residents of an Underserved Urban Area.

Background: Deployment of telehealth has been touted as a means of reducing health disparities in underserved groups. However, efforts to reduce regulatory barriers have not been associated with greater telehealth uptake. The goal of this study was to examine engagement with technology among low-income people of color living in Newark, New Jersey.

Assessing Health Issues in States with Large Minority Populations.

Health care spending is often addressed in discussions of budgeting and deficits in the United States. It is important to many Americans that funds allocated for health care spending be allocated and spent in the most efficient and effective manner, leading to improved health outcomes, particularly for underserved populations. Many studies address health care spending, but few address the issue of spending as it relates to societal well-being, or certain health outcomes that adversely impact communities.

Infant mortality in southern states: a bureaucratic nightmare.

Despite numerous advances in technology, medicine, and health care, infant mortality continues to reach very high levels in southern states. The purpose of this paper is to examine demographic, economic, and health care factors that are likely to affect infant mortality. In so doing, we first compare infant mortality and other critical factors in southern states to other regions of the country.

Obesity in America.

Recent data indicate that Americans are gaining weight at an alarming rate. In fact, data from the CDC indicate that the U.S.

Disparities in health care: minority elders at risk.

Minority elders are at great risk for missed diagnoses, greater disabilities, and higher death rates unless health care providers acknowledge that disparities in healthcare do exist and adjust their way of providing care. In the next 30 years, the current elderly population of 35 million is predicted to increase to 72 million. Minority elders are expected to account for 50% of this population.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program: has it reduced the percentage of uninsured children?

Recent data indicate that the percentage of children in the United States who are uninsured is declining. Although many factors have contributed to that decline, this study assesses the role of public health insurance, specifically the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), in reducing the percentage of uninsured children without health insurance from 1998-2000 and whether Medicaid and SCHIP crowd out exists. While this research confirms a significant decline in the percentage of uninsured children since SCHIP began enrolling children in 1998, other factors, including the poverty rate, the percentage of children on Medicaid, geographic region and race had a greater impact in explaining that result than SCHIP.