The Maryland Health Enterprise Zone Initiative Reduced Hospital Cost And Utilization In Underserved Communities.

The State of Maryland implemented the Health Enterprise Zone Initiative in 2013 to improve access to health care and health outcomes in underserved communities and reduce health care costs and avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions. In each community the Health Enterprise Zone Initiative was a collaboration between the local health department or hospital and community-based organizations. The initiative was designed to attract primary care providers to underserved communities and support community efforts to improve health behaviors.

Racial and Ethnic Composition of Hospitals' Service Areas and the Likelihood of Being Penalized for Excess Readmissions by the Medicare Program.

Background: The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) disproportionately penalizes hospitals serving minority communities. The National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine has recommended that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) consider adjusting for social risk factors in their risk adjustment methodology. This study examines the association between the racial and ethnic composition of a hospital market and the impact of other social risk factors on the probability of a hospital being penalized under the HRRP.

Perceptions of strategies for successful weight loss in persons with serious mental illness participating in a behavioral weight loss intervention: A qualitative study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe perceptions of weight loss strategies, benefits, and barriers among persons with serious mental illness who lost weight in the ACHIEVE behavioral weight loss intervention.

Methods: Semistructured interviews with 20 ACHIEVE participants were conducted and analyzed using an inductive coding approach.

Results: Participants perceived tailored exercise sessions, social support, and dietary strategies taught in ACHIEVE-such as reducing portion sizes and avoiding sugar-sweetened beverages-as useful weight loss strategies.