Resources

The high cost of health care places a particular burden on lower-income women who need health services but often struggle to pay premiums and out-of-pocket costs. The problem has been exacerbated because many insurers charge women higher rates simply because of their gender, thereby putting health coverage out of reach—especially for many lower-income women.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) aims to improve conditions for pregnant women and new parents by providing the services they need to have healthy pregnancies and provide their children with a good start in life.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY | Doula care, which includes non-clinical emotional, physical and informational support before, during and after birth, is a proven key strategy to improve maternal and infant health.

ISSUE BRIEF | Doula care, which includes non-clinical emotional, physical and informational support before, during and after birth, is a proven key strategy to improve maternal and infant health.

Policymakers can help promote safe, healthy childbirth experiences for women and babies in the United States with wiser use of resources.

List of CPeH 2014 Activities and Accomplishments

On average, women use the health care system to a greater extent than men, and thus stand to benefit more from greater access to their own health information and electronic tools that help them manage their health and coordinate their care.

Many women have questions about health insurance, the new insurance marketplace, and how to choose the best health plan for themselves and their families. While every family will have unique health care needs, the following information can help women make the best choices.

Women need the right tools and information to access affordable, quality care and make the best health care choices for their families and for themselves.

To help pregnant women prepare to talk with their maternity care providers and make good care decisions, this guide summarizes the new recommendations.

The inclusion of patients and consumer leaders in health care quality improvement initiatives can help ensure that projects meet their goals.

This document contains the definitions of frequently-used health care terms.

It is critically important to include consumer perspectives in multi-stakeholder health care quality improvement initiatives.

This document contains frequently-used health care acronyms.

Consumers envision the next generation of care plans as a multidimensional, person-centered planning process built on a dynamic, electronic platform. The Consumer Partnership for eHealth developed a set of Consumer Principles to guide policy efforts to build the functionality to support health and care planning into health IT.

Health information technology offers great promise in addressing and reducing health disparities, yet there has been little actual progress on this critical issue. The Consumer Partnership for eHealth has created an evidence-based action plan for leveraging the EHR Incentive Program to reduce health disparities and make a positive life-altering impact for the nation’s underserved and vulnerable populations

The Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program (e.g. “Meaningful Use”) is an essential catalyst for improving the quality, safety and efficiency of care. Patients and families have already begun to experience early benefits, which will grow exponentially in coming years.

The Medicaid expansion included in the Affordable Care Act is an historic opportunity to extend much needed health care coverage to millions of lower income Americans. Traditionally, Medicaid coverage has been limited to only to certain segments of the low-income adult population – parents whose dependent children live with them, disabled individuals, and pregnant women (but only for the duration of their pregnancy and 60 days afterward).

Telemedicine is the delivery of any health care service or the transmission of health information using telecommunications technology. It includes videoconferencing, transmission of still images, patient portals, remote monitoring of vital signs, and more.

The accountable care organization began life as a catchphrase signifying a shift in the relationship between a hospital and its doctors. By forming an ACO, a hospital and medical staff shared clinical and financial responsibility for coordinating care to improve quality and lower costs.