Help is on the way: the Congressional Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) Caucus was formed earlier this month to “
explore opportunities to improve the impact of services delivered to address social determinants with the support of federal funding. It will work to amplify evidence-based approaches to holistic well-being.”
Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA
Recent posts by Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA
2 min read
Historical public health innovations and SDOH
Pandemics are not new, nor is society’s attention to the social determinants of health. Fortunately, science has progressed, bringing public health measures including infection control, appropriate sanitation, wholesome environments, and most recently, the miracle of effective vaccines to society in record time.
Topics: Bulletin
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Engage in a healthy lifestyle and decrease your change of a dread disease
Cancer, a dread disease, is somewhat preventable. Healthy habits, careful vigilance, and good care including new therapeutics make a significant difference, as noted in a National Institute of Health and
National Cancer Institute report released last week.
Topics: Bulletin
2 min read
"Healthy Multipliers" can change the course of health and well-being
Aspiring to health and wellness rather than turning to sickness and healthcare is beneficial in at least two ways—avoiding both the misery and the expense of disease. A
Journal of the American Medical Association statistical analysis published last month, entitled “
Social Determinants of Health and Geographic Variation in Medicare per Beneficiary Spending,” addressed this thesis by comparing the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) with the cost per Medicare fee-for-service enrollee within 3,038 counties. About 100 counties’ populations were too small or did not have data and therefore were excluded.
Topics: Bulletin
2 min read
Personal health care and the pandemic
“
A surprising pandemic side effect: People have become more engaged with their health” is the headline of an
engaging essay, highlighting positive outcomes from people becoming self-sufficient when traditional services were in short supply.
Topics: Bulletin
2 min read
How's Life?
“How is life?” is a question raised by the Office for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to compare countries’ overall standard of living. The answer is found in the
OECD’s Better Life Index, created in 2011 and updated biennially, which compares thirty-seven developed nations’ standards of living. The current results are summarized in “How’s Life? 2020,”
2.5 minute informative video.
Topics: Bulletin
2 min read
Embracing Dementia Prevention with Six Healthy Behaviors
“
Adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors may reduce dementia risk in those with family history” is the catchy title motivating six healthy behaviors that statistically lower one’s chances of dementia.
Not in any order of efficacy, the six behaviors are:
- Eating a healthy diet of more fruits and vegetables with less processed meats and refined grains
- Not smoking
- Consuming alcohol moderately at most (less than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women)
- Sleeping six to nine hours per day
- Engaging in physical activity of at least 150 minutes per week
- Maintaining a BMI less than 30 (the cut off for obesity)
Topics: Bulletin
2 min read
Addressing Inequity is Key for Healthy Societies
Effectively addressing inequity is quintessential for a healthy and productive society.
Health and wellness have been defining issues in the United States. The added stress of COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated these imbalances not only for healthcare access and quality, but also for social injustice and civil unrest within communities.
Topics: Bulletin
5 min read
Healthy Multipliers for Our Society
Improving communities’ environments to make the healthy choice the easy choice is the single best intervention to help everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status, live a longer, happier and healthier life.
The “Social Determinants of Health” (SDoH) is a neutral, all-encompassing term that now commonly refers to the metrics that measure health and well-being. Diagnosing and describing the etiology of a disease or condition, in the current example — SDoH, is only the first step to addressing 80% of preventable illnesses.
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Topics: Bulletin
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How a Global Pandemic Has Impacted Birth Rates
“
U.S. Births Hit 35-year low” is the title of a summary article published in June 2020.
COVID-19 pandemic could cause U.S. births to drop by half a million next year,” a follow-up article, currently predicts the birth rate drop will be exacerbated by economic hardship caused by the pandemic.
Interestingly, the COVID-19 pandemic will have lasting effects in ways not usually considered during the initial acute stress. School populations will dip while this smaller cohort journeys though the educational system. Looking further into the future, the workforce population will shrink exactly when older folks will be needing more assistance and care.
