Health Policy for Diverse Populations

A set of vocabulary terms and definitions regarding health policies for diverse and vulnerable populations based on Chapter 6 lecture notes.

Vulnerability

The convergence of health risks which can manifest in physical, mental, and social categories.

Health Center Program

Nonprofit, community-directed healthcare providers, also known as federally qualified health centers, that provide primary and preventive care in medically underserved areas.

Enabling services

Services such as transportation, translation, and education provided by health centers to facilitate access to care for diverse populations.

Community health workers

Frontline healthcare professionals, typically members of underserved or indigenous communities, who facilitate access to care, perform outreach, and improve healthcare quality.

My Health GPS

A coordinated care benefit program launched in $2017$ by the District of Columbia Department of Health Care Finance for Medicaid beneficiaries with three or more chronic conditions.

Per-member, per-month ($PMPM$)

A basis of payment where providers receive a set fee per month for each enrolled member, regardless of the volume of services provided.

Mental health literacy

The knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management, and treatment.

Predicting characteristics

Individual attributes such as demographics, social structure variables, and health beliefs that indicate the propensity to use care services.

Enabling characteristics

Resources available to individuals and families for the use of services, as well as attributes of the surrounding community that affect access to healthcare.

Need characteristics

Specific illnesses or health needs that drive the receipt of healthcare services.

Regular source of care ($RSC$)

A usual place where, or a usual provider from whom, an individual receives healthcare services.

Culturally appropriate services

Efforts by healthcare providers to increase understanding and produce effective interventions by taking into account patients' cultural and linguistic characteristics.

Amenable mortality rate

Death before age $75$ from complications of conditions that might be avoided by timely effective care and prevention.

Marginalization

A process in which a person or an idea is pushed aside in favor of another, typically receiving few resources and little attention.

Disability-adjusted life years ($DALYs$)

A measure of the loss of healthy life intended to capture the economic, social, and functional realities a person with a disability faces.

Housing First

A program developed to provide no-strings-attached housing to chronically homeless populations to reduce emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program

A federal initiative that assists patients with AIDS who lack sufficient means to obtain treatment by disbursing discretionary funds to states, cities, and providers.

Office of Minority Health ($OMH$)

A federal agency dedicated to improving the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through health policies and programs designed to eliminate health disparities.

Indian Health Service ($IHS$)

A federal agency that provides comprehensive health services to $574$ federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.