142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

314409
ACA Outreach in the Heartland: Educating and Empowering the Service Industry

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 5:10 PM - 5:30 PM

Melba R. Moore, MS, CPHA , City of St. Louis Department of Health, St. Louis, MO
The health insurance provisions in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 have the potential to significantly reduce health disparities, given the unprecedented opportunity for the under- and uninsured to enroll in a health plan. However, many of the under- and uninsured residents in the Heartland states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska are not aware of their eligibility status, the health insurance benefits of the ACA and do not understand how to sign up for coverage. In particular, employees of small business enterprises such as the restaurants and other employers in the hospitality industry are vulnerable because their employment status most likely renders them ineligible for Medicaid and employer-based health insurance.

In January of 2014, the St. Louis City Health Department in Missouri initiated an ACA outreach effort targeting employees in the hospitality industry through their employers and trade associations. The outreach effort targeted about 2,200 employers and potentially, the 70,000 workers in the industry.  This outreach effort was endorsed by the Heartland Regional Health Equity Council (H-RHEC) during its annual meeting and was subsequently replicated in Kansas City, Missouri, leveraging the H-RHECs network to reach 621 members of the Hotel /Lodging Association, the Retailer Grocers Association, and the Missouri Restaurant Association, and potentially their 18,000+ employees. This presentation will highlight collaborative and outreach strategies used in this effort, and also share perspectives on challenges and successes of this approach, as well as needs and opportunities to leverage this type of outreach strategy in the upcoming 2015 enrollment season. 

Learning Areas:

Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Provision of health care to the public
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Describe a strategy for engaging employers such as the hospitality industry to raise awareness of health insurance provisions in the ACA and opportunities for enrollment into the marketplace exchanges among their employees. Describe options for addressing some of the challenges with this type of outreach approach and access to this target population.

Keyword(s): Affordable Care Act, Health Disparities/Inequities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have served as Commissioner of Health for the past fourteen years, focusing on the development of quality public health services and partnerships by providing continuous disease protection, disease prevention, and promotion of health improvements. My interest and expertise is in organizational restructuring and management; process improvement, program assessment, development; policy development and financial management. Among my scientific interests has been the development of strategies for improving early childhood wellbeing through a parent mentoring program.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.