The health and economic well-being of New Jersey families declined during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, with more children missing out on critical preventive health care, more women losing their jobs, and more drug abuse. He died of an overdose, the report said. Latest report by United Healthcare Foundation.
New Jersey dropped a spot, ranking seventh in the nation in the annual report on women’s and children’s health. 4th place in 2022based on an analysis of more than 100 publicly reported indicators that measure physical and mental health and quality of life.
The report says the mostly suburban and affluent Garden State is doing well nationally, surpassed only by Minnesota, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Hawaii and Utah. .
Still, the data (most of which was reported in 2020 and 2021) revealed surprising and alarming shortcomings.
The report found that New Jersey, the state with the highest prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in children, had a 40% increase in the percentage of young children tested to determine if they were reaching developmental milestones. is ranked first. In New Jersey, only 31% of infants between the ages of 9 and 35 months were tested, compared to 34.8% of infants and toddlers nationwide.
Harpreet Paul, chair of both departments of pediatrics at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, said the screening process includes, for example, whether the child is still crawling or is babbling, a pre-talking stage. He said the program includes answering a simple questionnaire that asks parents questions such as: and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune.
“It’s really important that we address this issue,” Paul said. “New Jersey has a high prevalence of autism and we need to identify children early. We need to connect them to the appropriate resources.”
a Rutgers University Research In February, rates of autism spectrum disorder among children were found to have increased by 300% in Essex, Hudson, Ocean, and Union counties. 500% among children Autistic patients without intellectual disability from 2000 to 2016.
of State health departments offer early intervention systems It connects infants and young children with delays in motor skills, communication skills, vision and hearing skills to free treatment to families earning up to three times the federal poverty rate.
But first, pediatricians and parents should discuss whether their children are falling behind. Paul said time often runs out on a typical visit to the pediatrician. He said insurance companies typically pay doctors based on the number of patients they see.
“If we can build in incentives that we think are important metrics to follow, such as development screening, rather than paying for volume… that could drive some of the outcomes we’re looking for. “There is,” Paul said.
This time crunch is the reason why only 45% of New Jersey children don’t have a “health care provider,” a doctor or team to provide consistent, comprehensive care and refer them to specialists when needed. and volume-based payment models may also be to blame. This is more important than ever, Paul said, as medical advances allow newborns to survive “through devastating conditions.”
The ongoing care of these vulnerable children is complex and there is a shortage of pediatric specialists, Paul said.Payment models are also an issue, especially One in three children in the state relies on Medicaid., whose insurance is also known as NJ FamilyCare. The return rate is the lowest in the country.
Nemours Children’s Health in Delaware announced in August that it would no longer accept most new patients enrolled in New Jersey’s Medicaid managed care insurance program because reimbursement rates did not cover the costs. Most of her 11,000 children dependent on Nemours in South Jersey are scheduled to be phased out by 2024. The nearest children’s hospital can be a two-hour drive away.
To solve this problem, Paul said, we need to succeed in making Medicaid reimbursement rates more generous, relying more on telemedicine, and expanding the network of pediatric specialists.
“It’s all doable,” Paul added. “I like to say that although children are only a quarter of the population, they are 100% of our future, so I think it is important to focus on this. ”
The report also revealed that drug-related deaths among women increased by 66% between 2014-2016 and 2019-2021. New Jersey ranked fourth on this metric in the 2022 report, but has plummeted to 26th in the nation in the latest report.
The trend is in line with what’s happening nationwide, accelerated by the recent wave of drug “addictions” to fentanyl, said Aakash Shah, director of addiction treatment at Jersey Shore Medical Center. He said more people are taking drugs containing fentanyl, which is “100 times more powerful than morphine,” and that drug-related deaths are rising across the country, many without even realizing it.
“It’s important to remember that death by drug overdose is often a disease of despair. So the question in my mind is: Was there more despair? . I think in recent years, especially as we’ve lived through the pandemic, the answer has been a resounding yes,” Shah said. “Did that despair fall disproportionately on women? I doubt so.”
The report also noted that New Jersey’s unemployment rate for women skyrocketed from 2020 to 2021, ranking it 47th lowest in the nation. Could economic turmoil be correlated with drug use and increase the death toll? Shah suspects there may be some overlap. She noted that women lost their jobs faster and were slower to re-enter the workforce during the pandemic.
The good news, Shah said, is that drug treatments are highly effective at suppressing appetite, preventing withdrawal symptoms and saving lives. Stigma against the use of drugs such as buprenorphine and naltrexone persists among medical professionals and society in general, but it is waning. The Biden administration has changed a policy that required doctors to seek exemptions from using these drugs, he said.
“I am relieved that we have leaders at the state and federal level who understand this challenge. They are working hard to address this issue,” Shah said.
Meanwhile, Jersey Shore has committed $6 million to expand those services, he said. “I really hope this number improves,” Shah added.
The report also found that fewer 11- and 12-year-olds received the HPV vaccine in 2021, which will reduce the incidence of some cancers later in life. Nearly 60% of children received the two-dose vaccine, compared to just 55% in the previous year’s report.
Human papillomavirus is transmitted sexually and can cause throat cancer, cervical cancer, and other cancers. Paul said the steady increase in the number of immigrants living in New Jersey means children are less knowledgeable and less confident about getting vaccines.
“As a state, we need to increase the level of education through counseling and repeated discussions during primary care visits to reduce this hesitancy,” he said.
Maybe you can find a report here.
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Susan K. Livio can be reached at: [email protected].
