Efforts to Improve Perinatal Outcomes for Women Enrolled in Medicaid.

Improving women's health and perinatal health outcomes is a high priority for Medicaid, the jointly financed federal-state health coverage program. The authorities provided by the Affordable Care Act give Medicaid new resources and opportunities to improve coverage and perinatal care. Given that the Medicaid program currently covers almost half of all births in the United States, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in partnership with states and other stakeholders, is using new and existing authorities to improve birth outcomes.

Healthy starts for all: policy prescriptions.

Context: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America recommended that substantial resources be committed to ensure all children have high-quality developmental experiences through family support, child care, and early education. This article reviews and updates the evidence base informing that recommendation and explores federal and state policy challenges involved in implementing it.

Evidence Acquisition: Reviews of published research, analyses of federal child health data sets, consultation with early development and state and local program experts, and site visits were conducted between 2006 and 2009, with statistics and literature reviews updated through mid-2010.

Multi-dimensional risk factor patterns associated with non-use of highly active antiretroviral therapy among human immunodeficiency virus-infected women.

Objectives: Relationships between non-use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), race/ethnicity, violence, drug use, and other risk factors are investigated using qualitative profiles of five risk factors (unprotected sex, multiple male partners, heavy drinking, crack, cocaine or heroin use, and exposure to physical violence) and association of the profiles and race/ethnicity with non-use of HAART over time.

Methods: A hidden Markov model was used to summarize risk factor profiles and changes in profiles over time in a longitudinal sample of HIV-infected women enrolled in the Women's Interagency HIV Study with follow-up from 2002 to 2005 (n = 802).

Results: Four risk factor profiles corresponding to four distinct latent states were identified from the five risk factors.

Association of race, substance abuse, and health insurance coverage with use of highly active antiretroviral therapy among HIV-infected women, 2005.

Objectives: We examined racial/ethnic disparities in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) use and whether differences are moderated by substance use or insurance status, using data from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS).

Methods: Logistic regression examined HAART use in a longitudinal cohort of women for whom HAART was clinically indicated in 2005 (N = 1354).

Results: Approximately 3 of every 10 eligible women reported not taking HAART.