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Welcome to Texas Health Institute
Happy New Year
Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold!
I found myself reflecting a great deal recently on this adage. We just completed a 4-day retreat of all 12 THI staff. We spent 2 days on program and a day a half on infrastructure: development, marketing, communication, operations, policy and procedures, mission/vision, goals, and products. We finished with presentations by the State Epidemiologist Vince Fonseca, MD, MPH and CDC Senior Management Official, Mark Fussell.
When you have looked at yourself in the kind of depth that we did, it was extremely helpful to have Dr. Fonseca and Mr. Fussell tell us how we look from the outside, from their perspectives, to challenge us with strengths and weaknesses.
My reflections are these:
- We accomplished an amazing amount in this year.
- We have an awesome staff; a wonderful, talented team; a great, committed Board of Trustees; dedicated consultants; trusted partners; wonderful volunteers, and fabulous Friends of the Institute, and superb funders!.
- We have expanded our work significantly in the past two years as a result of our Shared Vision Project.
- Yet, our old core functions are still our greatest strength.
So what are these core functions? We do a good job of studying complex problems/issues, and describing them as they relate to Texans in an understandable way. Then we provide evidence based relevant, practical, pragmatic solutions. We convene diverse groups of stakeholders to engage in constructive dialogue on the issues. Vince and Mark told us this is unique and extremely useful!
Therefore, we will go into the New Year using our old skills while we learn new ones. One major new skill will be to develop outcome evaluation capacities and apply these to everything we do.
Texas Health Institute is improving the health of Texans and their communities. This mission remains the same. We invite you to continue joining us in this effort. Bring us your health policy issues, problems, challenges, and your ideas, solutions, dreams. We are about doing together what none of us can do alone!
Sincerely,
Camille D. Miller
President & CEO
www.texashealthinstitute.org
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Two Are Added to Texas Health Institute Team in 2008
Beginning in January 2008, Mitchell Gibbs will join the Texas Health Institute team. Mitchell brings some fifteen years of non-profit management, fundraising, and leadership experience to THI. His background includes experience in HIV care and advocacy, elder care, and affordable housing issues. Mitchell will also contribute his considerable experience in communications, marketing, and media relations to the Institute. As an experienced journalist with an extensive radio, television, magazine, and advertising portfolio, Mitchell will oversee all THI communications including website, publications, and media relations.
"Texas Health Institute has a national reputation as an excellent policy resource. I am honored to present the fine work of a dedicated staff on behalf of the THI Board of Trustees to the residents of Texas," Mitchell said.
We are pleased to welcome Mitchell Gibbs to our staff and look forward to his innovative and enthusiastic approach to communicating our work.
Also joining us in the new year is Susan Griffin. Susan will be our Community Development Specialist for our Mental Health Transformation Community Collaboratives, serving as a liaison to the communities.
Susan holds a Masters of Public Affairs from the University of Texas, LBJ School of Public Affairs with a concentration in health policy. She has over 20 years of public health experience, primarily in policy analysis and program management and evaluation.
In her previous position as Public Health Program Manager and Policy Analyst with the Texas Medical Association, she organized medical education workshops and produced resources for primary care physicians on integrating mental and behavioral health into their practices. Susan also worked for the Texas Department of Health, during which she served as Director of Community Health Initiatives, aimed at improving public health systems management at the local, state, and national levels.
Susan reports, "I am thrilled to be joining the staff of the Texas Health Institute as their Community Development Specialist. I have worked with the wonderful staff of the Institute on numerous projects over the years, particularly with Camille Miller, Klaus Madsen, and Liza Creel, and have a great deal of respect and admiration for them. The Institute has always been a tremendous resource to me throughout my career."
We gladly welcome Susan and believe, in turn, that she will be a tremendous resource to THI in our efforts toward transforming mental health in Texas. |
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The Genetic Drift - 2007 Biannual Publication Released
The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Genetics Services Branch funds seven regional collaborative centers covering the nation. Texas Health Institute serves as the grant administrator for the Mountain States Genetics Regional Collaborative Center (MSGRCC), which includes Texas, along with Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. The vision of the MSGRCC is to collaborate to ensure that individuals with heritable disorders and their families have access to quality care and appropriate genetic expertise and information in the context of a medical home.
One of the center's most recent projects was the Fall 2007 publication of The Genetic Drift. The Genetic Drift is a peer reviewed publication targeting genetics professionals in the Mountain States region and nationally. Janice Rinsky, MS of Colorado with contributions from Valerie Rappaport, MD and Suzanna Schott, MS, both of New Mexico, Nancy Rose, MD of Utah and the Mountain States Genetics Regional Collaborative Center's Prenatal Diagnosis Committee, spearheaded this issue. Senior Editor is Carol Clericuzio, MD of New Mexico.
Since the region's last Update on Prenatal Diagnosis in 1994, there have been significant advances in the use of prenatal screening procedures and options. This includes the use of ultrasound and maternal serum analysis in the first trimester of pregnancy. Some of these options have reported a 90% or higher sensitivity rate in the detection of Down syndrome. This has caused a shift in the use of invasive procedures for diagnostic purposes. In the Fall 2007 issue, the authors describe some of these options in detail and discuss the need for comprehensive guidance and counseling when these options are presented to the patient.
If you would like an electronic version of the Genetic Drift, please email Liza Creel, Program Manager, at lcreel@texashealthinstitute.org. A website dedicated to MSGRCC is under construction and will be available in the near future. Please watch for the announcement in our upcoming THI newsletters. |
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A Vision for Change - Still in Focus in 2008
The Texas Health Institute is excited to announce that Methodist Healthcare Ministries (MHM) has agreed to continue to collaborate with Texas Health Institute (THI) in the continued effort to reduce the uninsured in Texas. The effort to increase the number of "covered" Texans will be based on the work THI has completed in its Shared Vision Project, which focuses on achieving improved access, effectiveness, and efficiency in healthcare. 
In 2008, THI and MHM will focus on two similar issues, media outreach and media training / tools for local advocates, which are vital to the success of reducing the uninsured in Texas.
Click image for complete Vision for Change report
Immediate goals and objectives of this year's project are to:
v Increase awareness and education of reducing the number of uninsured in Texas;
v Increase media and citizen education at the local level through community meetings;
v Create, cultivate, and nurture a communication network to dispel myths and offer evidence based, practical, pragmatic solutions for health care;
v Develop and execute community training & a toolkit for local citizens; and
v Provide a strategy for the sustainability of this effort in reducing the number of uninsured in Texas.
In addition to these key endeavors, A Vision for Change: Policy Solutions for Increasing Health Coverage in Texas educational piece will be refreshed and distributed to key stakeholders around Texas. Texas Health Institute thanks Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. for underwriting this brochure and we look forward to our continued working relationship for improving the health of Texans and their communities. |
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Review of 2007 Program Accomplishments
THI is finalizing its programmatic goals for 2008 and will announce them in upcoming THI newsletters. As we plan for '08, it has been useful to review the major accomplishments of 2007 accomplishments:
1. Reduce the Number of the Uninsured
In January, THI released the Vision for Change report that included new uninsured estimates and projections for every county in the state. The Methodist Healthcare Ministries funded report also presented 12 feasible policy solutions to reduce the number of uninsured by half. Forty pieces of legislation related to THI's 12 solutions were proposed and at the end of the legislative session in May, legislation passed on four solutions:
- Provide Technical Assistance and Seed Funding for 3-Share/Multi-Share Programs
- Expand Use of Medicaid Health Insurance Premium Program (HIPP)
- Fully Restore the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
- Expand Eligibility for Texas' Health Insurance Risk Pool
When fully implemented, estimates are that these four solutions will improve healthcare access for approximately 300,000 Texans.
A strong media campaign, editorial board tours, and op-ed pieces by Shared Vision Panel members were instrumental in providing education to support these accomplishments by our elected officials. Leading state newspapers as well as national media such as USA TODAY, Forbes, and Wall Street Journal now contact THI for background and research for news articles.
2. Improve the Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce
THI continued to improve awareness about public health, not just by addressing pertinent public health issues in all our work, but also applying a public health framework to all THI projects.
This framework was applied to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration-funded contract with Texas Department of State Health Services' Mental Health Transformation Project where THI is facilitating community development and promoting consumer and family involvement. This similar holistic approach is used in the Health Services and Research Administration-funded Mountain States Genetics Regional Collaborative Center. For this project, THI is managing activities in eight states, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming addressing individuals with heritable disorders and their families have access to quality care and appropriate genetic expertise and information in the context of a medial home.
At several Health Policy Forum policy education events for the Legislature and other stakeholders, the public health system was featured. This was especially true for the October 17 event, "How Texas Measures Up" where the Commonwealth Fund presented their scorecard data on Texas from its Commission on a High Performance Health System. Part of the discussion among the panelists at the Health Policy Forum was public health's role in improving the health system across five dimensions: Access, Quality, Potentially Avoidable Use of Hospitals & Costs, Equity, Healthy Lives.
This fall, THI began a CDC-funded planning grant in the Dallas area with the County Commissioner's Court, Parkland Health and Hospital System's Jail Health, along with other partners in Dallas County to examine root causes of recidivism, as well as mental health, substance abuse and the challenges of prisoner re-entry in the community, including medications, housing, jobs, etc. This project is also attracting the involvement of several key stakeholders, including The J. McDonald Williams Institute and Education in Freedom.
THI also continues to recognize and promote public health leadership through the Fratis Duff Award and Excellence in School Health Award. In April, we plan to launch National Public Health with a special award to a worthy individual for championing public health in Texas.
3. Improve the Long Term Care Delivery System in Texas
THI recruited a Long Term Care Council with consumer and providers to develop twelve solutions to improve long term care. A policy brief following the November 2006 state and regional Health Policy Forums was updated and recommendations were developed across three areas - resources, access, and workforce. We plan to add more consumers, and produce another Vision for change report, this time on Long Term Care.
4. Develop and Sustain a System for Community-Level Mental Health Transformation
For this major federally funded project in Texas, THI managed the selection of eight community collaboratives who now are receiving technical assistance to improve the local mental health delivery system. THI conducted several mental health transformation events in 2007: a five-day symposium, two health policy forums, four focused forums, and five webinars for twenty community collaboratives participating in learning collaborative.
Particularly successful, "A Meetings of the Minds" symposium had more than 350 participants from across the state in attendance. This event brought together transformation partners representing community collaboratives working on local transformation initiatives, consumer and family leaders in the area of consumer-directed services, state and national mental health transformation experts, and state policy decision-makers. The first half of the event focused on the community plans for transforming mental health systems and services at the community level, question and answer periods, and feedback from a national advisory panel. The last two days focused on consumer and family member topics: peer-to-peer learning, peer support certification, and the consumer role in Texas mental health transformation at the state and local levels. The symposium feedback has provided information and direction for the planning and delivery of training and technical assistance to the communities.
5. Strengthen the Capacity in Texas to Improve Health Status and Reduce Disparities
Obesity prevention policy was a major focus for THI in 2007. The major statewide policy coalition for this issue, The Partnership for a Healthy Texas was staffed by THI and served as the focal point for policy development for more than 30 organizations before, during, and after the legislative session. The Partnership proposed six recommendations, of which five were passed in legislation and the sixth through regulation. THI organized several policy education events such as Health Policy Forums and Legislative Briefings throughout 2007 to advance the knowledge of evidence-based policy solutions among legislators and other stakeholders.
Obesity prevalence is higher in the South than in the rest of the nation. With seed money from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, THI in collaboration with the Southern Regional Health Consortium, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, the Directors of Health Promotion and Education (DHPE), the National Society of Physical Activity Practitioners in Public Health (NSPAPPH), and the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD), hosted a conference, "Promising Obesity Prevention Strategies in the Southern States," in Little Rock, Arkansas. More than 250 delegates from 14 southern and surrounding states shared policy and community solutions to reduce obesity in the region. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, President/CEO, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Joe Thompson, MD, Arkansas's Surgeon General and Executive Director of THI's sister organization, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, and Eduardo Sanchez, MD, Director, Institute for Health Policy, The University of Texas School of Public Health served as speakers, in addition to a number of other national speakers. Besides the wealth of information provided by the speakers and targeted breakout sessions, much of the time of the symposium was devoted to the creation of state teams who could develop and apply new solutions in an obesity plan upon returning home.
David Lakey, M.D., the Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, who participated in the Southern Obesity Summit, convened multiple governmental and non-governmental public health partners to get Texas ready for responding to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's major investment in obesity prevention, now scheduled for announcement in the spring or summer of 2008. The group, named Live Strong Texas is co-chaired by THI's President, Camille Miller and Deanna Hoelscher, Ph.D., Director of the Michael and Susan Dell Center for the Advancement of Healthy Living.
In May, THI held a two-day conference focusing on promoting healthy communities by improving nutrition and physical activity. The first day of the conference, THI partnered with the Prevention Institute to provide a training session on the web-based Environmental Nutrition and Activity Strategies Tool (ENACT). ENACT is designed to help communities improve their nutrition and physical activity environments by offering specific achievable strategies. The second day of the conference highlighted two Texas community-based projects that have implemented best practices to decrease and prevent obesity. The communities exchanged ideas for program development, implementation, sustainability, and evaluation.
Another health policy forum worth mentioning was the January event on women's health that highlighted solutions for prevention and treatment of cervical and breast cancer in Texas.
6. Improve Access to Genetic Services, Information and Expertise in the Mountain States
In Fall of 2006, THI was approached by the Health Services and Research Administration to pursue a program management role for the existing eight-state Mountain States Genetics Regional Collaborative Center (MSGRCC).
 Since receiving funding in June 2007 to start projects in the region, THI is focusing on strengthening the organizational structure and focus for the MSGRCC, so it is better positioned for future federal and private funding opportunities. Projects include:
v Laboratory Quality Assurance Project, Project Lead: Dr. Marzia Pasquali
v Newborn Screening Outcomes Project, Project Lead: Dr. Janet Thomas
v Socio-Cultural Diversity Project
§ African American and Hispanic Populations, Project Lead: Dr. Kathryn Hassell
§ Native American Populations, Project Lead: Dr. Murray Brilliant
v Genetics Policy and Education Project, Project Lead: Liza Creel
The MSGRCC leadership team includes John Johnson, MD, Principal Investigator, Joyce Hooker, Project Manager, and Liza Creel, MPH, and Camille Miller, Project Director. The vision of the MSGRCC is to collaborate to ensure that individuals with heritable disorders and their families have access to quality care and appropriate genetic expertise and information in the context of a medical home. The MSGRCC serves eight states: Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. |
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DATA RELEASES ON UNINSURED, OBESITY, AND DIABETES
Over the past year, THI has collaborated with Methodist Healthcare Ministries and the Office of the State Demographer to prepare and release new data on the uninsured, along with obesity and diabetes prevalence in Texas. We are in the process of finalizing these reports and scheduling health policy forums over the next four months where they will be released. Please stay tuned!
If you want to be certain of receiving an invitation, please send an email to our Program Coordinator, Amanda Conway, aconway@texashealthinsitute.org, and she will put you on the list.
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Texas Health Institute Hosts Regional Genetics Meeting
On November 3, 2007, THI hosted the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) sponsored Mountain States Genetics Regional Collaborative Center's (MSGRCC) 2007 Program Review and Planning Meeting in Austin, Texas on November 3, 2007. At the meeting, Consumer Advocacy and Public Health Workgroups advised MSGRCC leadership on annual progress and direction. The meeting included an overview of currently funded projects as well as proposed projects for year two of the grant.
The MSGRCC is one of seven regional collaborative centers covering the nation. It is federally funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, HRSA Genetic Services Branch. The Mountain States Genetics Regional Collaborative Center includes the states of Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Texas Health Institute manages and facilitates the Mountain States Regional Genetics Center Collaborative. |
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Book Review by Valarie Garza, Consumer Coordinator for Mental Health Transformation
The Starfish and the Spider - The Unstoppable Power of Leadership Organizations
By Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom
"The Starfish and the Spider is a compelling and important book." - Pierre Omidyar, CEO, Omidyar Network; founder and chairman, eBay Inc.
The Starfish and the Spider is filled with content applicable to every aspect of our lives. It is the most powerful book I have read for the simple reason that instead of teaching lessons, it makes sense of lessons we have been learning throughout our lives.
The authors suggest set the premise that the difference between a spider, who is dependent on all of its cells and limbs for survival, and a starfish who can regenerate a complete new being from a single cell is key to understanding organizations.
The book begins with a descriptive lesson of how the Inca and Aztec civilizations were destroyed in a short time by a single enemy and the Apache civilization was able to survive more than 200 years of attempts to destroy it because it had no central leadership and no centralized monetary system. It also discusses the decentralization of the music industry, the success of the abolitionist and women's rights movements due to decentralization, success of the AA movement (peer support for substance abusers) due to its beginning as a completely decentralized organization owned and operated by its members, as well as many other organizational examples.
As the book moves through various organizations in a multitude of countries, it uses as an example of a champion, the story of a woman who was leader of Children's Protective Services in San Francisco who invited into her office, to be her partners, the very advocates who were daily burning her in effigy on the steps of city hall.
Highlighted in the book are benefits of hybrid organizations that have characteristics of both centralized and decentralized organizations.
The potential within any organization, including the consumer movement in health care, will be realized when we, as the authors say in this book, find the "sweet spot". "The decentralized sweet spot is the point along the centralized-decentralized continuum that yields the best competitive position."
Are you a catalyst or a champion? Are you one of the five legs of decentralization that is integral to any open system? Read the book to find out!
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About the Texas Health Institute Our mission is to provide leadership to improve the health of Texans and their communities through education, research, and health policy development.
Senior Editor: Camille D. Miller
Editor: Lenora Doerfler
The Texas Health Institute (THI) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on the development of health policy solutions to improve the lives of Texans and their communities. From acting as an honest broker and hosting unbiased health policy forums that facilitate dialogue among policymakers and other healthcare stakeholders, to creating a vision of an improved future healthcare system, THI is a think tank - providing evidence-based policy options and solutions as well as innovative, "outside the box" collaborative options to improve the health of Texans and their communities.
The THI newsletter is a monthly publication of the Texas Health Institute written to update THI board of trustee members and Friends of the Institute.
For e-mail address changes, add or delete requests, please e-mail your request to:
ldoerfler@texashealthinstitute.org
If you would prefer to receive this newsletter through the U.S. mail or fax, please e-mail your contact information to:
ldoerfler@texashealthinstitute.org
If you would prefer not to receive further messages from this sender, please contact us at:
delete@texashealthinstitute.org
* Funding for this was made possible (in part) by 5 U79 SM57485-02 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderator do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices or organizations imply endorsement by the US Government. | |
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Camille Miller
President/CEO
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