Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) recognizes, 

Patrik Johansson

Johansson of Omaha, Nebraska, is a passionate proponent of Harvard’s Native American outreach and a tireless advocate for rural and minority health care access. Beginning as an HAA elected director in 2006, he has worn many hats in his service to Harvard, including nine years on the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Alumni Council and eight years on the board of the Harvard Club of Sweden. Of African American, Cherokee, and Swedish descent, he devoted countless hours to the most vulnerable as a student and faculty member, completing the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy and serving as an instructor of social medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was integral in ensuring the representation of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Nipmuc Nation, and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah in ceremonies commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Harvard Indian College. He also facilitated the introduction of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Health Advisory Committee and petitioned for the conferral of a posthumous degree upon Joel Iacoomes, Class of 1665, one of the first Native Americans to matriculate at Harvard. For his unwavering dedication to the well-being of underserved communities, Johansson was recognized with the Medical and Dental School Deans’ Community Service Award, the Dr. Fang-Ching Sun Memorial Award, and the Albert Schweitzer Award. Johansson is a consultant for Wabanaki Public Health, a Tribal-serving public health district in the state of Maine

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/newsplus/haa-award-2019-recipients-announced/

The Reede Scholars, Inc. 

11^th Annual Health Equity Symposium

“Digital Health technologies: opportunities & protections for vulnerable populations”

Digital health technologies (DHT) hold great promise for data-driven and evidence-based health program design, management, and assessment. Concomitantly, there is increased risk to individual data misuse or data breach of sensitive personal data, if proper controls are not implemented. The potential benefits of strengthening health systems and improving health outcomes through the digital health environment thus come with a concomitant need to implement strong data governance structures to ensure the ethical use and reuse of individuals’ data which is collected through digital health programs.

 The Reede Scholars 11th Annual Health Equity Symposium will examine the risks associated with digital health technologies for vulnerable populations. Cybersecurity is a major concern. Parallel health systems, one for healthy populations and one for high-burden populations, is another. In order to ensure high-burden populations are equitable beneficiaries of DHT advances, it is paramount that they are represented within the data set and resulting analyses. Additionally, gaining trust, behavior modification, increased utilization, and meaningful benefits are important components of digital health technologies among vulnerable populations. To be sure, the World Health Organization (WHO) in its “Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020 – 2024”, calls for a robust strategy that integrates financial, organizational, human, and technological resources.¹

An expert panel of researchers, administrators, and providers will present thoughtful conversations addressing many of the issues confronting vulnerable groups, i.e., rural populations, under resourced and underserved communities, marginalized populations and others to improve health outcomes, lower healthcare costs, and advance health equity. 

The 2020 Health Equity Symposium is designed to:

• Examine policy needs for equitable inclusion of all populations in digital health technology developments;
• Discuss strategies for patient and user cyber protections;
• Identify strategies that integrate financial, organizational, human, and technological resources for optimal outcomes. 

The Annual Health Equity Symposium is open to all including, health professions students, social justice students and advocates, academicians, health executives, and community stakeholders. We welcome your participation and feedback.

2020 AHES Committee: D’Nyce Williams, Alexy Arauz Boudreau , Samantha Rosman, Nicole del Castillo, Mary Fleming, Dorado Brooks, C. Hodge, Chairperson

HEALTH POLICY BRIEF 

By Chloe Slocum, MD, MPH, RS ‘17 

Cost and quality 

Public and private stakeholders focused on health care costs and quality throughout 2019, which saw the introduction of new alternative payment models (APMs) initiatives focused on value-based payments for primary care practices and patients with end-stage renal disease. Surprise billing legislation and reducing prescription drug spending remained bipartisan priorities for lawmakers with continued debate and refinement of policy proposals expected in 2020 as neither issue made it into the final spending package authorized by Congress for the 2020 fiscal year. 

Health care costs

Researchers continue to demonstrate that access to health care coverage is a key driver of health outcomes ranging from maternal mortality, chronic disease management, and opioid overdose rates. Several recent studies have also highlighted the importance of Medicaid expansion for improved health outcomes as a growing number of states look to expand access to Medicaid through ballot initiatives. Federal support for state proposals to implement Medicaid work requirements has continued, despite mounting legal challenges and a dearth of evidence to support such programs to date. 

Policies aimed at boosting price transparency for health systems and payers and site-neutral payment requirements for outpatient hospital clinics are at the center of key legal decisions expected in 2020, in addition to a court case challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

Finally, while hospitals receiving Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments saw a delay in scheduled funding cuts and Congress passed funding measures for Medicaid programs in U.S. territories, lawmakers continue to look for and negotiate long-term solutions following a series of short-term fixes.