1. Mahalo nui loa to everyone who helped with HB540!
The governor will sign the bill tomorrow as we continue our path to 100%. This is great news for Hawaii's immigrant children and their families!
2. Isle Web Directory http://www.geckobytes.com
If you want your site listed in their database, check it out! Speaking of web sites, the next time you are at a bookstore or CompUSA, pick up a free copy of the June 2000 edition of "PacificNews.Net" and read pages 0018-0019. Thanks to Peter Kay and Lori Ogata, we are a boxed feature spreading the word about our really cool thang!
3. Subsidies Offered for Child Care
The Hawaii State Department of Human Services is accepting applications for child care subsidy assistance for low-income families. The subsidies are available to families with preschool-aged children, where the adults in the household work or are attending school and need help to cover the cost of child care. Assistance is also available for before- and after-school care and summer care. For information, call 587-5266 in downtown and Windward Oahu, 675-0470 in Leeward and Central Oahu, 959-0669 in East Hawaii, 327-4755 in West Hawaii, 243-5866 on Maui, and 241-3660 on Kauai.
Source: The Honolulu Advertiser
4. Westmoreland Outlines Goals/Priorities for Medicaid & State CHIP in FY 2000
Timothy Westmoreland, the director of the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) Center for Medicaid and State Operations, provided some insights into the agency's to-do list for this year. Westmoreland's division oversees both Medicaid and State CHIP. The agency plans to maintain State CHIP as a priority and investing equal effort on strengthening Medicaid. Among HCFA's goals and priorities for Fiscal Year (FY) 2000:
a. Increase enrollment in State CHIP and reverse the decline in Medicaid enrollment. The goal is to eventually achieve 100% enrollment in these programs.
b. Finalize the proposed State CHIP rule by the end of 2000.
c. Establish a process to handle states' requests for 1115 waivers for their State CHIP programs. The agency emphasizes that states should have at least one year of operational experience before the agency will consider granting a waiver.
d. Release the results from HCFA's recent on-site visits to state Medicaid agencies.
e. Issue the final Medicaid managed care regulation, including patient protections, by summer 2000.
f. Stress the need for better data systems. Better data systems will allow states to judge the effectiveness of their State CHIP plans, compare managed care programs to fee-for-service ones, and help states address fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program.
Source: BNA's Health Care Daily Report, Volume 5 Number 5, 7 January 2000. Copyright 2000 by the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington, DC. http://www.bna.com 1-800-372-1033
5. For Child Advocates: Children's Oral Health Do's and Don't's
Efforts to improve children's oral health have suffered from the perception that the care of teeth and gums is a cosmetic concern, not a legitimate health issue. The release of the Surgeon General's report on oral health represents an opportunity for advocates to change that perception. http://www.connectforkids.org
6. New CDC Pediatric Growth Charts Provide Tool to Ward Off Future Weight Problems
30 May 2000--To better track the growth and development of children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued new growth charts for children. The charts now include body mass index (BMI), a single number that incorporates both weight and height and is generally considered to be a measure of body fat. These growth charts, used by pediatricians, nurses and nutritionists, will help identify weight problems early on in children.
"The new growth charts not only provide a more accurate gauge for pediatric health care providers," said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, "but the BMI information offers them a new tool that can identify children who have the potential to become overweight down the road. The BMI is an early warning signal that is helpful as early as age 2. This means that parents have an opportunity to change their children's eating habits before a weight problem ever develops."
The revised pediatric growth charts more accurately reflect the nation's cultural and racial diversity and track children and young people through age twenty. Additionally, there is considerable improvement in the infant growth charts, where new data and improved statistical procedures have been useful in the revision process.
Health care providers hope that the new BMI charts will help address this nationwide problem. The growth charts indicate that, in general, children are heavier today than in 1977, but height has remained virtually unchanged.
"Obesity is a condition that is difficult to treat clinically in children, so prevention is the key," said CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan, MD, MPH.
The new growth charts are published in a report entitled "CDC Growth Charts." The report and the corresponding data is available on the CDC web site at: www.cdc.gov/growthcharts. A more comprehensive report will follow in the fall.
Source: HHS Press Release, 30 May 2000,http://www.hhs.gov.
7. Get Ready for Health Issues in Campaign 2000
Much of the debate over health care in campaign 2000 has focused on prescription coverage for the elderly and Medicare, but the issue covering uninsured children and their parents is gaining attention. The Alliance for Health Reform's Covering Health Issues: Campaign 2000 & Beyond is a good sourcebook for advocates as well as journalists. http://www.allhealth.org
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