Welcome to NAHIC: The National Adolescent and Young Adult Health Information Center. We are proud to be located within the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco and the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. At NAHIC, our strong tradition of leadership in the field of adolescent and young adult health is the result of our dedicated interdisciplinary faculty and staff.
I’ll be using this section to share the latest news from NAHIC as well as news from elsewhere in the field of adolescent and young adult medicine.
New Resources on the ACA and Young Adult Guidelines
NAHIC has just published two articles related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA); one on clinical preventive service guidelines for young adults and another on the effects the ACA has had on young adult health care.
In “Young Adult Preventive Health Care Guidelines: There But Can’t be Found,” published in the March 2012 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, NAHIC researchers examined existing adolescent and adult professional guidelines relevant to young adults, with a special emphasis on evidence-based guidelines. Based on their analysis, NAHIC researchers recommend establishing “Young Adult Preventive Care Guidelines” that reflect the current evidence-based recommendations that overlap with the young adult age group.
The second article, entitled “Access to Health Care for Young Adults: The Affordable Care Act is Making a Difference”, was written by Abigail English of the Center of Adolescent Health and the Law and Jane Park from NAHIC. The brief discusses the recent gains in insurance coverage for young adults and describes ACA provisions with the potential further expand access to insurance and improve access to preventive services.
We invite you to send us your thoughts on these two pieces and any ideas you may have about how to improve young adult health care during the implementation of the ACA. I also encourage you to explore our website, and experience the depth and scope of our work in the areas of adolescent and young adult health. If you are interested in learning more about our work, please contact us at 415-502-4856 or jazmyn.scott@ucsf.edu.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Irwin, Jr., MD
Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine
Director, Health Policy, Department of Pediatrics
Director, National Adolescent Health Information Center
