Development of the Community Health Improvement Navigator Database of Interventions.

With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the requirements for hospitals to achieve tax-exempt status include performing a triennial community health needs assessment and developing a plan to address identified needs. To address community health needs, multisector collaborative efforts to improve both health care and non-health care determinants of health outcomes have been the most effective and sustainable. In 2015, CDC released the Community Health Improvement Navigator to facilitate the development of these efforts.

Text4baby: development and implementation of a national text messaging health information service.

Text4baby is the first free national health text messaging service in the United States that aims to provide timely information to pregnant women and new mothers to help them improve their health and the health of their babies. Here we describe the development of the text messages and the large public-private partnership that led to the national launch of the service in 2010. Promotion at the local, state, and national levels produced rapid uptake across the United States.

Food supply and seawater pCO2 impact calcification and internal shell dissolution in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis.

Progressive ocean acidification due to anthropogenic CO(2) emissions will alter marine ecosystem processes. Calcifying organisms might be particularly vulnerable to these alterations in the speciation of the marine carbonate system. While previous research efforts have mainly focused on external dissolution of shells in seawater under saturated with respect to calcium carbonate, the internal shell interface might be more vulnerable to acidification.

Effect of the frequency of delivery of reminders and an influenza tool kit on increasing influenza vaccination rates among adults with high-risk conditions.

Objective: To evaluate the incremental effect of a second client reminder postcard or an influenza tool kit targeted toward employers on increasing influenza vaccination rates among adults age < 65 years at high risk for complications from influenza illness.

Methods: In this demonstration study, enrollees of 3 managed care organizations (n = 8881) were randomized at the employer level into 4 arms: 1 postcard, 2 postcards, 1 postcard + tool kit, and 2 postcards + tool kit. The postcards and tool kits were mailed during the fall of 2001, and their effect on influenza vaccination rates was assessed through a survey.