“Larry Hinkle offers up horror in a multitude of subgenres: some funny, some gory, and some weird af, it's hard to pick a favorite. Do not miss out on this up-and-comer in the horror world!” – EV Knight, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Fourth Whore From a corn maze hiding a cosmic secret between its rows to the basement of a Nebraska woman with a magic eye… From a support group for necrophiliacs to a demon searching for a new apprentice… From a town overrun by a sentient garbage dump to the tunnels beneath one of the country’s most haunted hotels… From the trail less travelled to a remote outpost on the outskirts of civilization... The 20 stories in this debut collection from horror author Larry Hinkle explore the space between our world and the next. Between then and now, and now and then. Between found and lost. Between the innocence of a child and the bloodlust of a monster. Tread lightly and watch your back. You’re never alone in the space between. With a foreword from Bram Stoker Award-winning author Tom Deady. “An everyman’s collection of uncanny twisted little tales exploring the weird in corn fields, quarries, quarks, and other creepy corners of the world. With a voice that is irreverent, unexpected, and delightfully macabre, Hinkle is an author to watch.” – Lee Murray, five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Grotesque: Monster Stories

This report, prepared by NASHP for the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, summarizes how leading states analyze state and federal race/ethnicity data in strategic plans and reports aimed at reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health status and health care. It features Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Utah, but also notes activity in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. Lessons from leading states can provide guidance for others exploring ways to launch or enhance health equity, consumer engagement, quality improvement, or cost containment initiatives.

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This issue brief describes state efforts to quantify the human and financial costs associated with racial and ethnic disparities in health status and health care. It highlights how states measure these costs, some of the challenges states may encounter in doing so, potential strategies to address these challenges, and new state publications in Rhode Island and Virginia about the costs of disparities. Finally, this issue brief offers several tools and resources for those interested in further learning on this topic.

Another Dimension is another title in the Read on the Run series of anthologies. Seventeen short stories explore the dimensions of time travel and alternate and parallel universes. We open the door to this anthology with The Door is Open, a dark story involving both time travel and an alternate universe, and we conclude with a peek into an entertaining parallel universe in Saturday Night at the Cattail Bar.

This brief describes how two states have analyzed race and ethnicity data and targeted interventions to specific geographic locations. Virginia coupled GIS mapping with multi- level spatial analysis to identify areas where infant mortality rates are the highest; the extent of racial and ethnic disparities in in fant deaths; the underlying causes of those infant deaths; and how to best intervene. Rhode Island used GIS mapping in conjunction with Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) to address health disparities related to tobacco-related diseases and lead poisoning. The technique helped the state locate communities where the most severe disparities exist; identify how multiple factors are causing the problem; and allocate resources for selected interventions.

This issue brief first briefly describes provisions in the ACA relevant to disparities reduction. It then focuses on one of the states featured in the HCUP report that has begun to integrate a focus on health disparities reduction with state ACA implementation--Maryland (MD).