Health Blogs & Reports
Can Telemedicine Bridge the Health Equity Gap in the Latinx Population?
By C. Sophia Carvajal and Aakanksha Deoli. The rapid growth of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic was instrumental in ensuring continued healthcare access through the virtual delivery of healthcare services [...]
Ensuring Access to Nature and Outdoor Recreation: Advancing Health Equity for People with Disabilities
By Jeanne Herb. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 21% of New Jersey adults have some type of disability. CDC reports that people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by chronic diseases [...]
Youth Mental Health in New Jersey: Current Status and Opportunities for Support Service Improvement
By Karen Lowrie and Brooke Schwartzman. Childhood, particularly adolescence, has always been marked by challenges, as youth learn to navigate the world. But times are changing; youth of today have faced major shifts in societal, environmental, community, familial, and individual spheres [...]
Digital Literacy, Telehealth Equity, and Healthcare Access are Interrelated: Here is How
By Betia Zeng and Aakanksha Deoli The growth and expansion of telehealth services have been well documented since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many patients opted to use telehealth to alleviate transportation, time, and convenience barriers. While telehealth [...]
APPAM Fall 2022 Conference: SNAP Administrative Burdens Presentation
By Stephanie Walsh In the context of governmental services, administrative burdens refer to the costs and barriers experienced by individuals. When burdens are high, the costs associated with benefit of public goods or services hinder [...]
Heat or Eat? The Low-Income Home Energy Distribution Program (LIHEAP) and Its Implications for New Jersey
By Josephine O'Grady. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP) is a federal block grant program that assists low-income families with the cost of paying their utility bills in areas including extreme heat and cold, household revisions to improve energy efficiency [...]
The Fallacy of Data Aggregation and Asian Americans in Research
By Amanda Hinton. In the United States, Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial/ethnic group and are expected to become the largest immigrant group by 2055 [...]
Exploring Stress Levels of E-Scooter Riders
By Wenwen Zhang, Hannah Younes, Leigh Ann Von Hagen, Clint Andrews, and Robert B. Noland. E-scooters are a low-emission and affordable mode of transportation that contributes to environmental and mobility equity goals [...]
Behavioral Health Reimbursement and Unmet Mental Health Needs in NJ
By Nduka Vernon According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 29% of non-elderly adults (adults below the age of 65) covered by Medicaid have a mental illness.[1] In addition, of all non-elderly adults with mental illness, [...]
Intelligent Help for the Opioid Crisis Lifecycle: The Need for an Artificial Intelligence & Informatics-Based Strategy to Address the Opioid Crisis
By Shiya John, Sri Krishna Kaashyap Madabhushi, Nishitha Chidipothu, Jim Samuel. The opioid crisis is affecting all levels of American society regardless of class, ethnicity, gender, or career [...]
High Quality Health Care: How New Jersey Residents Report Their Ability to Access It
by Amanda Hinton Health care is a hot-button topic for people across the country and New Jersey is no exception. The importance of access to health care cannot be understated and many New Jersey residents [...]
A Second Pandemic: Is telehealth a solution to the mental health crisis in the post-pandemic era?
by Heather Butler and Aakanksha Deoli The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic engendered a precarious environment that significantly exacerbated existing mental health disorders and triggered new ones. According to Mental Health America, roughly one in [...]
Access Issues Still Persist in Medicaid: How Race, Location, and Physician Capacity all Play a Role
by Amanda Hinton Medicaid enrollees of color, specifically Black and Hispanic patients, are less likely to be able to access care because racial disparities exist within the Medicaid program. A 2020 study examined primary care [...]
Broadband Connection Access: An Essential Social Determinant of Health in the Digital Era
by Edgar Romero and Anita Franzione Fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth services and virtual care rapidly expanded and allowed health care providers to continue delivering patient care. However, it is important to address the [...]
Medicaid Expansion Increased Eligibility for Millions but were Racial Disparities Exacerbated in the Process?
by Amanda Hinton Medicaid has long been a vital program that provides a safety net for low-income individuals to obtain health insurance. In 2020, Medicaid covered 17.8 percent of the population in the United States. [...]
Fee-For-Service and Behavioral Health Organizations: Reimbursement for Behavioral Health Services in New Jersey
by Nduka Vernon M.D., M.P.H In New Jersey, most behavioral health services for Medicaid patients are reimbursed by NJ FamilyCare–New Jersey’s Medicaid. NJ FamilyCare/Medicaid reimbursement for a myriad of behavioral health services is enabled through [...]
Expanding telework beyond pandemics: Potential benefits and challenges for the New Jersey Telework Pilot Program
by Jinah Yoo (PhD student), Leonor Camarena, PhD, and Federica Fusi, PhD The growing demands for workplace flexibility coupled with technological advancements have made telework a key element of flexible work arrangements with public organizations. [...]
Mapping New Jersey’s overdose hotspots: Insights from state administrative data
by Gavin Rozzi Efforts to collect statewide data on the opiate crisis in New Jersey have been underway since 2014 when former Attorney General John J. Hoffman issued a directive requiring local law enforcement to [...]
Telehealth Use among Medicare Population during COVID-19: Advancements in Accessibility vs Challenges in Utilization
By Heather Butler and Aakanksha Deoli Telehealth use in the United States has skyrocketed among healthcare providers and patients since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of telehealth visits [...]
Challenges with Telehealth Adoption in Light of a Global Pandemic
Rajisha Shah, Aakanksha Deoli, MHA The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in telehealth volume and revolutionized healthcare regulatory guidelines for its use. Telehealth expanded access to care, especially during the pandemic, and made [...]
Using Creative Informatics and Artificial Intelligence to Address the Drug Addiction Crisis in New Jersey
Shiya John, Gavin Rozzi and Jim Samuel New Jersey has a persistent substance addiction problem which must be viewed in the context of laws, policies, and initiatives implemented to address it. The most recent numbers [...]
Use of Telehealth Among Essential Workers During COVID-19
Mriga Bansal and Naren Gopal Since December 2020, coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been a significant global health concern. In February 2020, the Centers for Disease Control [...]
Is Telehealth Making Healthcare More Accessible For the LGBTQ+ Community?
Domonique Noel Across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has made a drastic impact on the lives of LGBTQ+[1] people in several unforeseen ways. One of those ways is in healthcare delivery, as an increasing number [...]
Public Safety, Health, and Youth School Experiences: Legalizing Recreational Marijuana in New Jersey
Charles E. Menifield While the legalization of recreational marijuana will benefit state finances, policy-makers must consider potential negative externalities associated with the sale of legalized marijuana. In a forthcoming report funded by the New Jersey [...]
The Interaction of Unemployment, Mental Health, and Re-Employment
Joel C. Cantor, Carl Van Horn The COVID-19 pandemic has been a source of unprecedented stress and uncertainty across the US and globally. And we know that some groups including minorities, women, and older individuals have [...]
US Treasury Department Provides Coronavirus Relief Grants to State & Local Government
Jennifer Spiegel To help Americans recover from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has authorized the U.S. Treasury Department to set up coronavirus relief grants to state and local governments for economic [...]