HHS Launches Leading Health Indicators 2012 Series

January webinar focuses on improving access to primary health services

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is addressing challenges associated with access to primary health services in the first installment of its monthly Who’s Leading the Leading Health Indicators? series.  Leading Health Indicators (LHIs), part of the Healthy People 2020 initiative, are critical health issues that, if addressed appropriately, can help reduce the leading causes of preventable deaths and illnesses.

Ensuring that all Americans have access to high quality, affordable health care is central to the new health care reform law.

“The ability to access health services has a significant impact on every aspect of an individual’s health, yet one in four Americans does not have a regular primary care provider and one in six lacks health insurance,” said Howard K. Koh, M.D., M.P.H., HHS assistant secretary for health. “People without medical insurance are more likely to skip routine medical care, which leaves them at higher risk for developing serious and debilitating health conditions. The health care reform law is committed to ensuring that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care.”

As part of the series, HHS plans to showcase organizations that are effectively addressing the various LHI topics. This month, Chicago’s South Side Health Care Collaborative’s “Medical Home Connection Program” is being highlighted for its efforts to increase access to primary health care services.  The program, part of the University of Chicago’s Urban Health Initiative, is connecting patients who use emergency rooms for non-emergency services with primary care physicians who can provide them with a regular, ongoing source of care.

“The medical home program educates ER patients on how to get the right care, at the right time, in the right place,” said Daniel Johnson, MD, Community Health Science Director at the University of Chicago’s Urban Health Initiative. “We help patients understand the benefits of having access to a medical home and refer these patients into primary care.”

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.