January 13, 2010
Women’s Health Issues and
The Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health
Celebrate 20 Years!
January, 2010 marks 20 years since the founding of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health (JIWH) and its peer-reviewed journal, Women’s Health Issues. Since its founding in 1990 at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the journal has endeavored to contribute to the mission of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health to:
- Identify and study women’s health care issues involving the interaction of medical and social systems;
- Facilitate informed dialogue and foster awareness among consumers and providers alike; and
- Promote problem resolution, interdisciplinary coordination, and information dissemination at the regional, national, and international levels.
In 2006, JIWH and the journal found a new home at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in Washington, DC. In addition to maintaining the Institute’s historic commitment to serving as an authoritative source for scholarly research on women’s health issues that cross-cut women’s lifespans and health needs, the move to GW has been marked by a number of advances. First, we have transformed the Institute from a member-based association to an academic research center with a growing portfolio of sponsored research projects from both government and private sector funders. With the appointment of Susan F. Wood, PhD as Executive Director of JIWH in late 2008, we have begun developing a women’s health track for the GW Master of Public Health program to complement our growing research portfolio.
Women’s Health Issues has benefitted from the move to GW as well. We successfully implemented an online manuscript submission and review system that has greatly expedited our ability to process and publish manuscripts on a more timely basis. The journal’s “impact factor” (a measure of how often other journals cite Women’s Health Issues) has increased. The journal’s 5-year impact factor now ranks first out of 26 journals in the women’s studies category tracked by Thomson Scientific. In 2009, we created a new category of peer-reviewed manuscripts entitled “Policy Matters” to fill a void in the women’s health publishing world for authors of scholarly and rigorous health policy analyses. The Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Health Issues is GW Department of Health Policy Professor Anne Rossier Markus, JD, PhD, MHS with assistance from Managing Editor D. Richard Mauery, MS, MPH and Assistant Managing Editor Elizabeth Dawes, BA, both DHP staff members. The journal is also indebted to the members of our Editorial Board and our publisher, Elsevier, Inc., who provide invaluable guidance and assistance in maintaining the journal's dedication to excellence.
If you are interested in submitting a manuscript for consideration, we welcome your input. Please visit www.whijournal.com for Author Instructions. We also hope you will agree to serve as a peer reviewer should we call on you.
Free access to a copy of the Editors' Note in our January/February 2010 issue is at http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/1049-3867/PIIS1049386709001303.pdf
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November 17, 2009
GW Analysis Examines Industry-Wide Implications of the Stupak/Pitts Amendment Banning Funding of Abortion Under Health Reform Bill
The Stupak/Pitts Amendment was added to the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962), which passed the House on November 7th. The amendment bans federal funding for abortions and bars payment of federal subsidies to health insurance products sold in exchanges that cover most medically indicated abortions.
An analysis conducted by the GW School of Public Health and Health Services’ Department of Health Policy, concludes that the Amendment would produce industry-wide effects, leading to the elimination of health plan coverage for nearly all medically indicated abortions. Although the Amendment appears to address only plans that receive federal exchange subsidies, even health plans sold to private, large employers that purchase outside the exchange ultimately are likely to be affected, the analysis concludes. These findings are based on an assessment of the extent to which the health benefits services industry adjusts its products over time to conform to the regulatory environment in which it operates.
“Under national health reform, millions of women, including women who are covered by small employers (as employees or spouses or dependents of employees) as well as those who are currently uninsured, will receive their coverage through health insurance exchanges. By barring the sale of subsidized products that cover medically indicated abortions as part of a broader package of benefits, the Amendment can be expected to cause the industry to re-design its offerings in order to avoid violating the legal restrictions on abortion applicable to exchange products that receive subsidies,” said Professor Sara Rosenbaum, JD, lead author and Chair of the Department of Health Policy. “The Amendment also can be expected to chill efforts to develop supplemental coverage for medically indicated abortions, because it appears to prohibit the joint administration of both a basic and supplemental product,” Rosenbaum noted.
The analysis also concludes that, based on past experiences with claim administration decisions involving treatment exclusions, insurers can be expected to interpret the exclusion broadly, excluding coverage of not only most medically indicated abortion procedures but also treatments for serious illnesses, injuries, and medical conditions that include an abortion undertaken for health reasons.
A PDF file of the analysis is available here (GW Department of Health Policy website)
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July 7, 2009
Women's Health Issues
Announces New Manuscript Category
“Policy Matters”
Call for Papers
The Editors and Editorial Board of Women's Health Issues invite article submissions for a new category of peer-reviewed manuscripts entitled, “Policy Matters.”
We invite authors to submit scholarly, thoughtful, and timely policy analyses related to various issues affecting women's health. These could include, for example:
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Policy implications of proposed legislation, regulations, judicial decisions at the federal, state, and local levels as they may affect women's health;
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Policy implications of current and future developments in programs integral to women's health (e.g., Medicaid, Medicare, community health, Healthy Start, WIC, family planning, public health, and private sector insurance coverage);
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Scholarly policy analyses of health and social issues affecting women's health from a historical perspective, e.g., the effects of delinking Medicaid from welfare and subsequent reproductive health choices, or the effects of state and national health reform efforts on women's health; and,
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Scholarly policy analyses that contribute to our understanding of how effective policy actions can improve the scope and quality of women's health care services and the organization, financing, and delivery of these services.
“Policy Matters” submissions may contain recommendations for “next steps,” however a key peer review criterion will be the extent to which such recommendations are supported by the rigor and comprehensiveness of the supporting policy analysis. “Policy Matters” manuscripts should not exceed 3,000 words – charts and graphs are encouraged when appropriate.
The journal continues to give priority to scholarly health services research articles that report the results of original research and that improve understanding of how social, health care, and policy factors relate to women’s health. We seek in particular research articles and commentaries that:
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Contribute to a better understanding of gender-based health services research and policy; and
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Document applied integration and implementation strategies that translate new clinical, health services, and health policy research findings into women's health care practice and policy.
Women's Health Issues is indexed in leading services and is available online at www.whijournal.com and at www.ScienceDirect.com. Author instructions are available at www.jiwh.org and at www.whijournal.com. Please note that the journal uses APA style for all manuscripts. Inquiries as to the suitability of a manuscript topic are welcome and may be directed to the Editors at whieditor@gwu.edu or telephone 202-994-4184.
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June 15, 2009
Jacobs Institute of Women's Health
Releases New Report
Women's Health and Health Care Reform:
The Economic Burden of Disease in Women
As America considers ways to reform its health care system, a central focus must be the fact that women need and use the health care system more than men. Women’s reproductive health care needs are part of the reason for increased use, but more women than men also suffer from one or more chronic conditions that require ongoing care, such as diabetes, depression, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
This report, a companion to an earlier Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University report, Women’s Health and Health Care Reform: The Key Role of Comprehensive Reproductive Health Care, was prepared by the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and made possible by the Women Donors Network and the Communications Consortium Media Center. It underscores the key roles of both preventive care and continuity of care for women across the lifespan, including primary and specialty care as well as pregnancy care. Further, this report demonstrates that providing continuity of care for women’s health would not only result in better health for women, but also may yield cost savings for the U.S. health care system as a whole.
For more information and to download PDFs of both reports, please visit: http://www.jiwh.org/content.cfm?sectionid=175
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Women's Health Issues Announces Winner of
2008 Gibbs Leadership Prize for Best Manuscript
Published in 2008
The Editorial Board of Women's Health Issues has chosen "Women's Health Insurance Coverage: 1980-2005," written by Sherry Glied, PhD with co-authors Kathrine Jack, BA, JD, and Jason Rachlin, BA, MA, as the winner of the 2008 Gibbs Leadership Prize as the best manuscript published in 2008. The article appeared in the January/February 2008 issue of Women's Health Issues. Dr. Glied is Department Chair, Health Policy and Management Professor of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. To learn more about the Gibbs Prize and to download a free copy of Dr. Glied's manuscript, please click here.
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Women's Health Issues Releases Supplement on
"Policy and Financing Issues for Preconception and Interconception Health"
Health policy researchers report that one reason the U.S. lags in infant mortality and premature births is inadequate health coverage and insufficient health care for women. With nearly half of poor women uninsured and too few health insurers covering comprehensive preventive and primary care for women, opportunities are missed to screen and treat for problems that affect childbearing.
A special supplement to the journal Women's Health Issues, published by the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health of The George Washington University (GW) School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, describes how the nation can improve the health of women and infants with health reforms and more effective public policy. Susan Wood, Director of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health at the GW SPHHS, said: "To improve access to preventive services, Congress and the new Administration must consider who is covered, the design of coverage, and women's health needs."
Just over half - approximately 50 million - U.S. women are of reproductive age and approximately six million U.S. women become pregnant each year. Current health policies are focused on prenatal care and not designed to improve the health of women both before and in between pregnancies. A focus on prevention through preconception and interconception care increasingly is understood as essential, not only to the health of women, but as a key part of a comprehensive strategy to improve the health of the next generation.
"Changes in public policy and health care financing, particularly health coverage and benefits are essential for improving preconception health," said Kay Johnson, co-editor of the Supplement. "In the fifteen peer-reviewed articles in this publication, experts describe how to improve programs and policy."
The Women's Health Issues Supplement provides a framework for improving preconception care in the context of larger health reform debates. "The CDC's 'Recommendations to Improve Preconception Health and Health Care' calls for major reforms in the design of coverage to create a comprehensive women's benefit for women of reproductive age," Wood said. This should include a "well woman" benefit consisting of coverage of routine preventive visits (including a pre-pregnancy checkup) and a broad array of treatments to reduce identified risks.
The Supplement also includes articles describing the |
