Utilizing Advocacy to Promote the Adoption and Implementation of Medicaid Policies That Increase Insurance Coverage Among Adolescents.

Purpose: The Promise of Adolescence: Realizing Opportunity for All Youth report recommends several Medicaid policies to increase insurance coverage among adolescents: approve Medicaid expansion; eliminate the 5-year Medicaid waiting period for lawfully present adolescent immigrants; increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for adolescent health services to the level of Medicare; and ensure coverage and sufficient reimbursement of comprehensive health services. We designed this study to identify key advocates and factors relevant to adoption and implementation of the recommended Medicaid policies in Nebraska to highlight opportunities for additional advocacy.

Methods: We conducted semistructured interviews January 2022 with 28 adolescent health and health-care access experts in Nebraska, including representatives from health care, education, government, and nonprofit sectors.

Enhancing the Capacity of Local Health Departments to Address Birth Equity: The Institute for Equity in Birth Outcomes.

Introduction: Significant and persistent racial and ethnic disparities exist related to infant mortality and other birth outcomes. Few models exist that aim to prepare organizations to implement essential features, such as community engagement or intervening on social determinants of health.

Methods: Between 2013 and 2015, teams from seven local health departments participated in the Institute for Equity in Birth Outcomes (EI) with the goals of building capacity and implementing changes to address equity in birth outcomes.

Assessing the Development of Collective Impact Initiatives Addressing Maternal and Child Health.

Purpose: To examine the extent to which communities participating in the Collective Impact Learning Collaborative (CILC) increased capacity to create conditions for collective impact (CI) to address racial disparities in maternal and child health (MCH) and align local efforts with state MCH priorities over a 12-month period.

Description: Eight communities participated in a learning collaborative that involved the provision of technical assistance via webinars, monthly team calls, and site visits to facilitate the development of a collective impact initiative. A Ready-Set-Go approach to technical assistance was used to guide the communities through each phase of development while also providing individual assistance to teams based on their capacity at the start of participation.

Application of a Mixed Methods Approach to Identify Community-Level Solutions to Decrease Racial Disparities in Infant Mortality.

Objectives: This study aimed to identify community-level actions to decrease racial disparities in infant mortality (IM).

Design: Six urban multidisciplinary teams generated ideas for decreasing racial disparities in IM using a mixed methods concept mapping approach. Participants rated each idea as to its necessity and action potential and grouped ideas by theme.