Children's Savings Programs as Public-Private Partnerships: A Tool to Advance Health Equity for Low-Income Families.

Higher education can lead to economic mobility, but cost is a barrier for low-income families. Children's savings account (CSA) programs for higher education increase educational aspirations. Early Bird, a novel health system-integrated CSA program being assessed through a randomized control trial could greatly influence families' outcomes.

Satisfaction With Medication Reconciliation Completed by Pharmacy Technicians in an Emergency Department.

Purpose: To survey advanced nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, physicians, and resident physicians involved with collecting and reconciling medication histories in the emergency department (ED) to measure their satisfaction with the current process involving pharmacy technicians.

Methods: Two sites within a large health system with pharmacy technician-driven medication reconciliation processes asked health care professionals to complete a survey of 20 multiple-choice questions. The data collected determined resources used and barriers faced when collecting medication histories, satisfaction before and after the involvement of pharmacy technicians in the ED, and the impact technology may have on this process in the future.

Activating Racial and Ethnic Minorities to Engage in Preventive Health: Patient Preferences for Health Reminders.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine racial and ethnic minority patient receptiveness to health reminders, and preferences for media channels and messengers for preventive health reminders.

Methods: A pen and paper survey was administered to patients in the waiting room of a publicly funded clinic serving predominately racial and ethnic minorities.

Results: Three-fourths of participants said they would like to receive health reminders.

Why Physicians Don't Ask: Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Barriers to HIV Testing-Making a Case for a Patient-Initiated Campaign.

In 2006, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended HIV testing for all adolescents and adults aged 13 to 64 in health care settings with a HIV prevalence of at least 0.1%. However, 55% of US adults have never been tested and therefore do not know their HIV status.

Mitigating HIV health disparities: the promise of mobile health for a patient-initiated solution.

The HIV epidemic is an ongoing public health problem fueled, in part, by undertesting for HIV. When HIV-infected people learn their status, many of them decrease risky behaviors and begin therapy to decrease viral load, both of which prevent ongoing spread of HIV in the community. Some physicians face barriers to testing their patients for HIV and would rather their patients ask them for the HIV test.

Using text messages to improve patient-doctor communication among racial and ethnic minority adults: an innovative solution to increase influenza vaccinations.

Despite the 2010 CDC recommendation that all adults receive influenza vaccinations, in the 2013-2014 influenza season, only 35% of Blacks and 37% of Hispanics were vaccinated, compared to 40% of Whites. This disparity could be due to poor patient-doctor communication, among other barriers. Doctors provide more health information to active communicators; unfortunately, they perceive minority patients to be poor communicators.