Building Research Capacity in Primary Care Practices That Serve Predominantly Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations

In this commentary, we report on lessons learned over 2 years (2020-2022) from conducting primary care research through a novel alliance of an ACO consisting of independent practices, a health plan, and several academic researchers, with the support of a private foundation. Am J Manag Care. 2023;29(6):In Press _____ Takeaway Points The process of collaborating on research was mutually beneficial for a network of independent practices and a group of academic researchers. * The process benefited the practices by facilitating more precise thinking about quality improvement, motivating the staff, and enabling readiness for health system change. * The process benefited the researchers by illuminating nuances of clinical and organizational workflow and revealing the practices' in-depth understanding of the communities they serve. * If practices have more federally funded opportunities to consistently participate in research, it could help speed greater adoption of payment reform models to promote health equity at the state and national levels. _____ A 2021 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, Implementing High-Quality Primary Care, has called out the persistent "neglect of basic primary care research" in the United States.1 A 2020 study by the RAND Corporation found that primary care research represents only 1% of all federally funded projects (including projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], and the Veterans Health Administration).2 However, innovation in primary care is central to advancing health care delivery. Leaders in health care innovation recently called for CMS to test a proposal for primary care payment reform in accountable care organizations (ACOs) composed of independent practices (ie, practices not owned by hospitals).3 By innovating in independent practices, these leaders argued that CMS would provide incentives for those practices to stay independent, thereby potentially decreasing the vertical market consolidation that contributes to rising health care costs.3 Yet these same practices may have less experience with the kind of systematic innovation that leads to generalizable insights, because what little funding is available for primary care research is mostly awarded to large academic medical centers.1 AHRQ's practice-based research networks have not fully addressed this gap, as they have struggled to find infrastructure and maintain funding.1 In this commentary, we report on the lessons we learned over 2 years (2020-2022) from conducting primary care research through a novel alliance of an ACO consisting of independent practices, a health plan, and several academic researchers, with the support of a private foundation. [...]ACPNY found that experience with research facilitates innovation and readiness for health system change (lesson 1C).

THE ROLES OF SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS ON ONLINE FUNDRAISING IN INDONESIA

[...]this study aims to understand the roles of SMIs in fundraising activities, to identify the influencers' attributes which affect their followers' willingness to donate, and to explore the motivation of the followers to donate. [...]few studies use social media influencers and their attributes as an object. [...]the researchers are interested in using Rachel Vennya, who is an online celebrity, to engage with potential donors through her social media outlet and get them to make donations. [...]the aims of this study are to understand the roles of social media influencers in contributing to fundraising activities, to identify the influencer's attributes that affect the willingness of his/her followers to donate money and to discuss the motivation for the followers' intentions to donate. The influencers are potentially effective because they have some personal factors and content that is commonly preferred by people, proven by their large numbers of followers (Tafesse & Wood, 2021). [...]the researchers aim is to understand the roles of social media influencers in contributing to fundraising activities and to identify the influencers' attributes that affect the willingness of their followers to donate money. 2.

Indian Act Philanthropy: Why are Community Foundations Missing from Native Communities in Manitoba, Canada?: Revue Canadienne de Recherche sur les OSBL et l'Économie Sociale (ANSERJ)

Un modèle philanthropique axé sur le développement communautaire serait-il en train de renforcer les politiques coloniales plutôt que d'offrir des bénéfices économiques équitables? Cette étude analyse les transcriptions de vingt webinaires publics sur la philanthropie et la Loi sur les Indiens et évalue les 54 fondations communautaires établis au Manitoba, Canada. Ces 54 fondations servent seulement les villes et municipalités des colons-il n'y en a pas une seule dans les communautés autochtones. Comme elles ne desservent que leurs régions géographiques spécifiques, les fondations communautaires au Manitoba concentrent la richesse dans les villes et municipalités dominées par les colons, accaparant des ressources qui pourraient aider les communautés autochtones. Ce modèle philanthropique, en excluant les communautés les plus pauvres du Manitoba, renforce la marginalisation, la pauvreté et les risques de santé dans les communautés autochtones.Alternate :Could a philanthropic model aimed at community development enforce colonial policy rather than providing equitable economic opportunity? This research analyzes the transcripts of 20 public webinars on philanthropy and the Indian Act and maps the 54 community foundations in Manitoba, Canada. All 54 community foundations in Manitoba service only settler-dominated cities and municipalities, with none on Native communities. As community foundations serve only their specific geographical areas, the community foundations in Manitoba effectively concentrate wealth in settler-dominated cities and municipalities, taking away needed resources from Native communities. In excluding the poorest communities in Manitoba, this philanthropic model further entrenches marginalization, poverty, and health risks for Native people on Native communities.

The Morning After: A Post-Binge Federal Shadow Budget for 2023

The combination of growth-enhancing and fiscally prudent policies will redress the damage COVID has done to federal fiscal capacity, and provide more resources Canadians will need to address an ageing population, climate change and the energy transition, subsequent pandemics, and challenges we do not yet foresee. The Main Estimates for the 2023/24 fiscal year will follow Public Sector Accounting Standards, and will appear before the start of the fiscal year, after appropriate vetting by the Treasury Board. Notwithstanding the federal government's rhetorical emphasis on global warming as an existential threat that requires costly curtailments of fossil fuel production and consumption, the purported economic costs of warming do not figure in its projections, nor do the fiscal costs of adapting and fixing the damage. The response to global warming is likely to be a drag on economic growth (Canadian Climate Institute 2022).

ESG: new concept for old problems

A socially responsible business must base its actions on ethical management and consider issues such as the quality of life of its employees, the relationship with stakeholders, and the reduction of negative impacts of operational activities on the community and the environment. [...]our society no longer depends only on the government but also on businesses that work well and meet their needs, ranging from job creation, equitable growth, protection of natural resources, and defense of consumer interests. According to the authors, if strategically implemented, CE can play a prominent role in the agendas of emerging and developing countries, encouraging collaboration and stakeholder engagement. In "Construction and validation of a corruption perception scale at the citizen level", Kelmara Mendes Vieira, Monize Sámara Visentini, and Ricardo Teixeira Cunha propose and validate a Corruption Perception Scale (CPS), composed of five individual-level dimensions (knowledge, behavior, reflexes, control, and attitude), which position the citizen as the protagonist in the analysis of the phenomenon.

THE CD. HOWE INSTITUTES COMMITMENT TO QUALITY, INDEPENDENCE AND NONPARTISANSHIP

To attract more digital talent and to make immigration a tool for capturing opportunities in the digital economy, the federal and provincial governments should reform immigration programs to increase the admission of immigrants with prior study-permit-holder status and retain international students, particularly in STEM fields;ensure that the combined temporary and permanent immigration programs sufficiently increase the supply of newcomers with digital skills and that skilled immigrants receive the tailored support they need to integrate successfully into the labour market;and reduce the underemployment of skilled immigrants through greater efforts to bolster language skills and address barriers to the recognition of foreign credentials and experience. To develop digital talent, governments at all levels, according to their responsibilities, should take a holistic approach, including: * reforming the education system, ensuring availability of resources and training options for teachers to implement modernized curricula;* increasing STEM enrolment and graduation numbers by raising students' performance in STEM subjects, closing the STEM gender divide by better helping students to make study and career choices and encouraging under-represented groups to continue their education in STEM fields by identifying and addressing their particular needs;* working with educational institutions to develop and expand digital skills learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and data science courses and programs;* increasing high-quality work experience options such as work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities and expanding co-op programs in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector;* investing in micro-credential/certification programs that are paired with work placement for youth not in education, employment or training;* investing in upskilling and reskilling the existing workforce;and, * preventing brain drain and retaining new graduates. [...]employers should also take actions to expand the pool of digital talent and address their digital skills needs. [...]digital and data skills are increasingly required across all sectors of the global economy including in Canada.

Diving Deep on Equity and Power: Exploring Shifts in Philanthropic Practice With the Iceberg Model

Confronting questions of systemic racism and the fallout from a pandemic requires a look inward at the practices, policies, structures, mindsets, and cultural norms that govern how foundations operate. The experience of The California Endowment and the James Irvine Foundation shows what can be learned from this period of crisis and disruption. This article illustrates how each funder used the iconic iceberg model as a tool to move beyond surface-level responses to explore eight tangible, equity-focused changes in the way they practice philanthropy. This article also reflects on what it takes to shift norms, structures, and power in ways that lead to equitable outcomes and embed equity throughout an organization - and what gets in the way.

How a Community Foundation's Disaster Framework Guided Rapid Pandemic Response

Serving as an intermediary between donors and a wide variety of regional causes they support, the foundation provides philanthropy and civic leadership to address community challenges. Since Hurricane Katrina devastated the region in August 2005, the foundation has become a recognized expert in philanthropic response to disasters, lauded for the strategic principles underlying deployment of its standing Disaster Response and Restoration Fund and broader disaster response framework (Greater New Orleans Foundation, 2022b). [...]the city and its surrounding region have endured 16 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster declarations, including three hurricanes during the record-breaking 2020 season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic (FEMA, 2021a;National Oceanic Key Points * Disasters create opportunities for philanthropy to rebuild equitably by prioritizing the most vulnerable community members in disaster response and addressing existing disparities and structural inequities in the recovery phase. According to Easterling, these foundations acting as community leaders go beyond traditional grantmaking to convene diverse stakeholders and catalyze cross-sector solutions to community challenges. [...]during the BP oil spill, the Greater New Orleans Foundation pressed Congress to amend provisions for citizen engagement and permanent set-aside funds for unforeseen issues to the RESTORE Act1 providing federal relief (Barry et al., 2012). [...]community foundations might take advantage of brief opportunities created by disasters to address otherwise entrenched deficits and disparities facing their communities, introducing largescale social innovations which might in turn enhance community resilience (Westley, 2013).

Out of Crisis, Learnings Shape Future Grantmaking

Like other philanthropic organizations during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jim Joseph Foundation took steps to loosen grant requirements, support CEOs and leadership teams, and provide funding for emergencies and innovations. Another area that required flexibility was in the re-examination of learning plans to take advantage of the "forced experimentation" imposed by the pandemic lockdown. In March 2020, the foundation paused ongoing research and evaluation projects to determine the extent to which the pandemic and economic crisis would impact the quality of the data, and then crafted new learning questions and plans to take advantage of the opportunities in the moment. It pivoted to redeploy resources to assess how the internal foundation team responded to the crisis, how grantees pivoted to online programming, and how the crisis and online programming were experienced by target populations.

Giving With Pride: Considering Participatory Grantmaking in an Anti-Racist, LGBTQ+ Community Foundation

Participatory grantmaking and trust-based philanthropy are two paradigms that can shift the power dynamics in foundation giving. This article examines how Pride Foundation, a regional LGBTQ+ community foundation in the Pacific Northwest, restructured its grantmaking as part of a broader organization-wide commitment to racial justice. Through an embedded case study, this article documents the foundation's self-study year and details five issues that emerged as pivotal aspects of the grantmaking transition: staffing, communication, community participation, funding restrictions, and organizational readiness.

Editorial

Building on systems built by community members resulted in creative, locally owned solutions to achieve impact. The COVID-19 pandemic had a disparately harsh impact on Indigenous peoples, with U.S. death rates far higher for Native Americans than for the white population. The authors reflect on what it takes to shift norms, structures, and power in ways that lead to equitable outcomes and embed equity throughout an organization.

Measures for providing financial support for small and medium enterprises from non-reimbursable external funds within the Competitiveness Operational Program 2014-2020, in the context of the crisis caused by the Sars Cov-2 virus in Romania

Emergency Ordinance no. 130 / 31.07.2020provides for 3 main forms of financial support from non-reimbursable external funds, related to the Competitiveness Operational Program 2014 - 2020, in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, for SMEs whose activity has been affected by the spread of the virus or whose activity has been prohibited by military ordinances during the state of emergency and / or during the state of alert: 1. Micro-grants granted from non-reimbursable external funds in the form of a lump sum;2. Grants for working capital granted to beneficiaries in the form of a lump sum and as a percentage of turnover;3. Grants for productive investments granted to SMEs, necessary for the expansion / rehabilitation / modernization of existing production capacities, the realization of new production capacities, the purchase of equipment, machinery and installations, as well as for the modernization, rehabilitation, expansion existing buildings or the purchase of buildings for new production activities, including for the purchase of land necessary for investments up to 10% of the value of projects subject to financing applications.

Lives Put on Hold: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Canada's Youth

According to the "scar theory," past unemployment can lead to long-term poor labour-market outcomes in terms of an increased incidence of unemployment in the future, and employment in lower quality and lower paying jobs. To support youth during the recovery and alleviate potential negative long-term effects, Canadian governments (at all levels) need to ensure that young Canadians are equipped with relevant skills, support them to make up for learning losses and consider targeted labour market programs and policies that help encourage greater participation and ease the transition into employment and better jobs for young Canadians who still face difficulties finding employment. According to the "scar theory," past unemployment can lead to long-term poor labourmarket outcomes in terms of an increased incidence unemployment in the future, and employment in lower quality and lower paying jobs (Heckman and Borjas 1980;Arulampalam, Gregg, and Gregory 2001). Canada can do more to support youth who remain unable to find employment and address learning losses to mitigate long-term negative effects by taking the following steps. * Expand employment services (counselling and job search assistance) to reduce unemployment duration and recurrence;* Enhance labour-market flexibility and

Ethical challenges in an evolving digital communication era: coping resources and ethics trainings in corporate communications

Purpose>This study is motivated to investigate the ethical challenges facing public relations professionals in today's digital communication environment. Specifically, the authors focused the research on the new ethical challenges in digital practice, the resources relied on when encountering ethical challenges and public relations professionals' efforts in seeking trainings on communication ethics.Design/methodology/approach>An international online survey was designed and conducted in Canada and the USA. The final sample includes 1,046 respondents working full time in the profession of public relations and communication. In addition, the authors prespecified several demographic quotas in sampling design in order to recruit a more representative sample.Findings>The research found nearly 60% of surveyed professionals reported that they faced ethical challenges in their day-to-day work, and there is a wide range of ethical challenges in digital practices. Results also revealed that professionals use various resources to deal with ethical issues. Those resources include ethical codes of practice of professional associations, ethical guidelines of their organizations and their personal values and beliefs. As common as experiencing ethical challenges, over 85% of surveyed professionals reported that they have participated in communication ethics training. However, only 30% of participants indicated that their ethics training took place in the past year.Originality/value>The research provides solid evidence that the digital communication environment generates more ethical challenges, while it creates new ways of delivering content in corporate communications. Professional associations and organizations shall dedicate efforts in providing timely ethics training to PR professionals at all levels of leadership within and beyond corporate communications.

Data Dashboards for Advancing Health and Equity: Proving Their Promise?

Some analyze health and health equity data to distinct geographic boundaries.3 Others present and disseminate a new metric.4 Still others aggregate local policies and laws that affect population health to guide research and advocacy.5 During the rapidly unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, many state and local health departments struggled to make data publicly available, and the Johns Hopkins University COVID Tracker quickly became the "go-to" data source for by-the-day counts of COVID-19 cases, deaths, tests, and vaccinations.6 Other COVID-19 dashboards have since drawn explicit attention to COVID-19 inequities7-9 (see Table 1 for examples). [...]quantitative indicators of a dashboard's usefulness must also be measured, including visit and revisit frequency data from Web site analytics, as well as media, social media, and scientific article citations.10 Dashboards generally seek to "liberate" access to data. [...]in early 2020, the Opportunity Atlas team at Harvard University used data from private companies to add granular measures of local shifts in economic activity resulting from pandemic shutdowns.12 The City Health Dashboard added a census tract-level measure of COVID-19 local riskto guide local testing and vaccination efforts.3 Rigorous methods to measure a dashboard's actual impact on health and health equity are more elusive. The more complex a Web site is in terms of data and functionality (e.g., number of metrics, number of underlying data sources, range of geographies, comparison functions, multiyear data), the more staff time is required to ensure that all facets are updated regularly. Because of this, and because there will always be salient new and creative ways to combine data, we anticipate that health data dashboards will continue to be developed by both public and nonpublic actors, with financial support from foundation and federal agency grants.

Using Patent Drawings of Invention Publications to Differentiate Stock Return Rate - an Empirical Study on China Stock Market

Patent is an important outcome of technological innovation, which drove economic growth. Though patent claim always caught attention when considering patentability, it had to be supported by the drawings according to the patent examination criteria. However, patent drawing was seldom discussed. More than 60% of China listed companies of RMB common stocks (A-shares) from 2017Q1 to 2021Q4 were selected as effective samples based on the company integrated database. The effect of China invention publication's patent drawing count for differentiating China A-share's stock return rate was thoroughly discussed via analysis of variation (ANOVA). The average drawing count and the total drawing count of invention publications significantly increased over previous five years even under the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the total drawing count was found to be an appropriate patent indicator for differentiating A-share's stock return rate whereas the average drawing count was not because the average drawing count did not show significant connection with the stock return rate. The Ashares in the group of the highest total drawing counts showed significantly higher stock return rate mean while the A-shares in the groups of lower total drawing counts showed significantly lower stock return rate means in most quarters from 2017Q1 to 2021Q4. The finding also proved that the patent quantity still mattered in China stock market.

Home Remedies: How Should Canada Acquire Vaccines for the Next Pandemic?

There have already been six major viral outbreaks since 2000: the 2002-04 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, the 2009 "H1N1 flu," the 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome (MN1 -https://media.proquest.com/media/hms/PFT/1/FqaxM?_a=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%2BgIBToIDA1dlYooDHENJRDoyMDIyMDUyMDE0MDUzNTQ4OTo3MzQyMjA%3D&_s=aFHt5%2B5%2BbhdQ4iKTUBeyoRaDV2k%3D ERS) outbreak, the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, 2015-2016 Zika outbreak, and the 2019-21 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic (Council on Foreign Relations n.d.). [...]many of those who recover from severe COVID will suffer long-term impairments (Cutler and Summers 2020;Canadian Press 2021). [...]we cannot completely discount the possibility of the release into the environment of genetically engineered pathogens which combine epidemic or pandemic potential with highly challenging vaccine development characteristics (MacIntyre and Bui 2017). Given the significant wider benefits and public good aspects of vaccine use and financing, relying on individual consumer demand will result in underinvestment. [...]public funding is needed to expand Canada's domestic vaccine production capacity.

Worldwide news and comment

Despite some tobacco control success in China, likely as a result of completing MPOWER’s policies of monitoring tobacco use, introducing prevention policies and introducing mass media policies, the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) found that smoking cessation attempts have actually decreased from 36.4% of smokers in 2010 to 19.8% in 2018. [...]China faces significant tobacco-related disease burdens and direct and indirect economic costs, which have been estimated to be between USD$9 billion to USD$57.5 billion per year. Letters urging the Attorney General not to approve the Brookline bylaw were submitted by the Business Retail Association of Brookline and by the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, while letters urging approval of the measure were submitted by Action on Smoking and Health and by PHAI. On 14 September, 2021, several Brookline tobacco retailers filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts Superior Court challenging the bylaw on the basis that despite the approval by the state attorney general, it is pre-empted under state law, and that it violated the Massachusetts Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law by discriminating against anyone born on or after 1 January, 2000.

Using Patent Drawings to Differentiate Stock Return Rate of China Listed Companies. A Study on China Patent Species of Invention Grant

Patent is an important outcome of technological innovation. Though patent claim always caught attention when considering patent quality, it had to be supported by the drawings according to the patent examination criteria. However, patent drawing was seldom discussed. Based on the company integrated database, more than 50% of China listed companies of RMB common stocks (A-shares) from 2017Q1 to 2021Q4 were selected as effective samples. The effect of China invention grant patent’s drawing count for differentiating A-share’s stock return rate was thoroughly discussed via analysis of variation (ANOVA). The average drawing count of invention grants significantly increased over previous years. However, the total drawing count of invention grants was found to be an appropriate patent indicator for differentiating A-share’s stock return rate whereas the average drawing count of invention grants was not. The A-shares in the highest total drawing count groups of invention grants showed significantly higher stock return rate means while the A-shares in the lower total drawing count groups of invention grants showed significantly lower stock return rate means in most quarters from 2017 to 2021. The finding also proved that the patent quantity still mattered in China stock market.

Now protected or still stigmatized? A 25-year outlook on the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Purpose>In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. This law was intended to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities (PWD) in employment, public accommodations, transportation and other areas of life. However, the degree of impact in these sectors has not been studied in tandem. Addressing these sectors together is the primary objective of this paper.Design/methodology/approach>Results are analyzed and presented regarding ADA impacts as well as which organizations provide advocacy services in support to PWD from survey data collected from 1,582 US participants in 2010 (N = 866) and 2015 (N = 716).Findings>Results suggest that the ADA has had a positive impact on PWD, yet this law favorably affects people of certain demographics more than others. Moreover, people with and without disabilities have differing opinions on the impact of the ADA, suggesting that what is conveyed to the public and the impact of the ADA on real-life outcomes of PWD are sometimes misaligned.Originality/value>The present study helps add to the current body of knowledge on the impact of the ADA by providing perspectives on advocacy services and impacts from a diverse set of PWD and their counterparts without disabilities.