District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas; and * Equal Justice Distinguished Service Award, Don Hollingsworth, senior associate, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement.
In June 2004, as part of a state antiobesity program, the nonpartisan Arkansas Center for Health Improvement began mailing annual health reports to the parents of all 450,000 Arkansan public school students.
Using de-identified data from the state's largest insured employer group--state and public school employees--the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement examined medical claims for individuals with health risk behaviors including tobacco use, obesity and physical inactivity compared with individuals in the plan who did not have these risks.
JOE THOMPSON, THE state's surgeon general and director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, likes to remind audiences of just how the United States came to rely so heavily on employers for health insurance.
A recent study by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement showed 456,000 Arkansans--17 percent of the state's population--didn't have health insurance in 2004.
The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement has received a $407,136 State Planning Grant from the federal Health Resources & Services Administration to continue its study of the health insurance status of Arkansans and to develop options to expand coverage for the uninsured.
The (industry) could be so stressed that it really does present an issue for all of us," said Ryan, associate director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement in Little Rock.
