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Life Experiences and Income Inequality in the United States
Published On 1/10/2020
A new report examines the hardships of affording basic needs, but also Americans’ outlook on future economic opportunity.
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The Rural Opportunity Map
Published On 1/10/2020
A unique collection of data and tools, the Rural Opportunity Map uses data sets on broadband infrastructure, education attainment, young companies, and other local assets. A map section for local leaders is designed to help them discover and learn from peer communities. Developing sections help decode the many definitions of rural across federal entities, help investors find options in rural Opportunity Zones, and track trends in rural health care.
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Health Inequity in the United States: A Primer
Published On 1/8/2020
By any measure, the United States has a level of health inequity rarely seen among developed nations. The roots of this inequity are deep and complex, and are a function of differences in income, education, race and segregation, and place. Primer provides an overview of these distinctly American problems, and discuss programs and policies that might promote greater health equity in the population.
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Long-Range Planning for Health, Equity & Prosperity: A Primer for Local Governments
Published On 1/7/2020
This primer poses a series of questions in order to provoke thoughts on how planners can prioritize health and equity in their work. The answers to these questions provide: a framework for aligning health equity policies across local government departments; and broad guidance on incorporating equity in long-range planning, community engagement, investment, and evaluation processes.
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The Current Understanding of Gestational Weight Gain Among Women with Obesity and the Need for Futur
Published On 1/7/2020
In this paper, the authors will present a summary of the how the 2009 IOM/NRC gestational weight gain (GWG) recommendations were made and the major data gap that existed at that time, describe new GWG trends for women entering pregnancy with class II and class III obesity (body mass index [BMI] at or above 35), briefly summarize the most promising interventions for women with overweight and obesity, and provide a discussion of the research gaps that will need to be addressed before new recommendations can be made for these groups of women.
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In Rural Areas Without Pain Or Addiction Specialists, Family Doctors Fill In The Gaps
Published On 1/6/2020
Both pain management and addiction treatment are specialties, calling for advanced training that many family physicians don't have. Specialists tend to practice in larger towns and cities, says Dr. Alan Schwartzstein, speaker of the American Academy of Family Physicians Congress of Delegates, "so they're not as accessible." For rural physicians, the burden of responding to the opioid epidemic falls squarely on their already-loaded shoulders.
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Are the 10 Essential Public Health Services out of date? Review underway
Published On 1/6/2020
The Futures Initiative, a partnership between PHAB’s Public Health National Center for Innovations and the de Beaumont Foundation, launched in June. The initiative is engaging the public health community in reviewing and revising the essentials framework to ensure it reflects how the field has evolved in 25 years and is ready for the challenges to come.
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Understanding Rural Health Departments: Do They Have Unique Accreditation Needs?
Published On 1/3/2020
Post discusses how governance, organizational size, and other factors impact rural local health departments' ability to pursue voluntary accreditation.
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Medicaid: A Brief History of Publicly Financed Health Care in the United States
Published On 12/26/2019
This Medicaid timeline tracks key milestones, preceding the Social Security Act Amendments and beyond.
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AHA on Behavioral Health Integration
Published On 12/19/2019
In a new issue brief, the American Hospital Association (AHA) reviews the challenges to accessing behavioral health care, reporting that “roughly 60 percent of rural America is underserved for behavioral health, and more than 85% of the nation’s behavioral health professional shortages are in rural communities.”
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Demand for Broadband in Rural Areas: Implications for Universal Access
Published On 12/19/2019
Report provides an analysis of demand-side issues at the nexus of infrastructure buildout and adoption.
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Federal Housing Policy: From Disappointing Regulatory Proposals to Inspiring Enforcement Actions
Published On 12/19/2019
Public health leaders have criticized a recent U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposal that would place an increased burden on those seeking to prove discrimination in housing practices. While the HUD proposal moves through the regulatory process, another federal agency, the Department of Justice, continues to do its part to prevent discrimination in housing and punish those who engage in unfair and illegal housing practices.
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Key Facts about the Uninsured Population
Published On 12/17/2019
This issue brief describes how coverage has changed in recent years, examines the characteristics of the uninsured population, and summarizes the access and financial implications of not having coverage.
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Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households
Published On 12/16/2019
This report describes the characteristics of SNAP households and participants nationwide in fiscal year 2018 (October 2017 through September 2018). It also presents an overview of SNAP eligibility requirements and benefit levels in fiscal year 2018.
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State Children's Environmental Health Profiles
Published On 12/16/2019
State Children's Environmental Health Profiles
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Behavioral Health in Rural America: Challenges and Opportunities
Published On 12/16/2019
This paper provides an overview of behavioral health (BH) in rural America. The goal is to help rural leaders and providers understand the issues related to rural mental health (MH) and substance use (SU) and give them resources and tools to develop targeted strategies to address the unique needs of their communities.
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Who Is Accessing Charitable Food in America?
Published On 12/16/2019
Who Is Accessing Charitable Food in America?
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Excess Weight Can Weaken The Flu Shot
Published On 12/2/2019
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says flu season is starting to ramp up — and it's not too late to reduce your risk with a vaccine. But scientists have come to realize that flu vaccines are less effective for people who are overweight or obese. Considering that excess weight affects more than two-thirds of the U.S. adult population, that's a significant shortcoming.
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Telemedicine in Sexual and Reproductive Health
Published On 12/2/2019
This brief presents an overview of telemedicine’s current use in sexual and reproductive health care, and reviews considerations in its coverage, potential to improve access, and financial implications for providers and patients.
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Safer Well Water through Stronger Public Health Programs
Published On 12/2/2019
The National Center for Environmental Health works with health departments to protect communities from unsafe well water. The NCEH Safe WATCH cooperative agreement funds health departments to identify and close environmental health service gaps in their programs. Safe WATCH funds 14 state and 5 county health departments, including Gaston County, that serve communities and populations using private wells.
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Increasing Postpartum Medicaid Coverage Could Reduce Maternal Deaths and Improve Outcomes
Published On 12/2/2019
Extending Medicaid coverage for pregnant women in every state for a full year after birth is a first step to eliminating disparities and improving outcomes.
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More Kids on Medicaid to Get Health Care in School
Published On 12/2/2019
Children who have high blood pressure or are obese perform worse academically than others. Children with asthma miss far more school. Students who have healthy diets, who are physically active, who abstain from alcohol and illicit drugs, get better grades. With that in mind, more than a dozen states are finally taking advantage of a five-year-old federal policy change that would make it easier for schools to provide health care to millions of children across the country.
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Telehealth: An Opportunity for State & Territorial Health Agencies to Improve Access
Published On 12/2/2019
For rural and underserved regions and communities in particular, telehealth can mitigate transportation barriers to care and address health care provider workforce shortages. Beyond clinical care, telehealth can be leveraged to deliver public health services, health education, and enhance population health. State and territorial health officials (S/THOs) and their agencies can lead state health transformation efforts by leveraging telehealth to improve population health statewide.
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The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): History, Politics, & Public Health Implication
Published On 12/2/2019
This commentary introduces a special section of AJPH on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the US government’s largest antihunger program and third-largest antipoverty program. SNAP demonstrably lifts adults, children, and families out of poverty, thereby constituting a vital component of this nation’s public health safety net.
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Vaccinating Pregnant Women
Published On 10/15/2019
Influenza and whooping cough can be deadly, especially in a baby’s first few months of life. Vaccinating women against these diseases during each pregnancy helps protect both them and their babies. Studies show flu and whooping cough vaccines are very safe for pregnant women and developing babies.
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A New Portrait of Rural America
Published On 10/7/2019
Report uses unique community typologies as well as data and on-the-ground reporting to explore these differences and blow up the mythology of rural America.
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Improving Access to Maternal Health Care in Rural Communities
Published On 10/4/2019
This issue brief was developed by CMS to provide background information on rural maternal health care and to focus attention on the need for national, state, and community-based organizations to collaborate on developing an action plan to improve access to maternal health care and improve outcomes for rural women and their babies.
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Rural Suicide Prevention Toolkit
Published On 10/3/2019
The Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) recently announced a new toolkit that compiles resources and model programs to aid organizations in implementing suicide prevention programs in rural communities. According to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide rates are higher in rural areas of the country. Earlier this year, the CDC released a map of suicide mortality, showing a concentration in states that are mostly rural.
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Medicaid/CHIP Coverage by School Districts
Published On 8/28/2019
State-level data tables of Medicaid/CHIP coverage of children by school district for 2013 to 2017.
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Bringing Together Young And Old To Ease The Isolation Of Rural Life
Published On 8/8/2019
A group in northeastern Minnesota is tackling the problem of rural social isolation in a novel way: They're trying to reconnect a fragmented social fabric by bringing together generations to support each other — kids and the elderly. McGregor is one of 18 rural communities running the program, called AGE to age. It connects more than 4,000 youth with almost 2,500 older adults annually.
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Immigrant Doctors Can Help Lower Physician Shortages in Rural America
Published On 8/7/2019
This report highlights physician shortages in rural communities, explores some of the main pathways through which immigrant doctors end up practicing there, and provides broad federal and state policy recommendations to better incorporate immigrant doctors into the effort to tackle the rural health care crisis.
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Home Is Where Our Health Is
Published On 8/5/2019
Where we live can affect how long and how well we live. That’s why the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has been focusing on addressing the housing inequities that make it difficult for millions of people living in America to thrive.
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Searching for solutions to the rural opioid crisis
Published On 7/29/2019
Solving the rural opioid crisis starts with bringing awareness to a complex problem. It means difficult conversations between patients and providers, neighbors, family, and colleagues. Finding a way for rural communities to move forward requires collaboration from partners across health care, law enforcement, industry, and community organizations.
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States Take Action to Improve and Expand Early Childhood Education
Published On 7/1/2019
Analysis shows how state policymakers are putting their priorities into action by improving how states plan and manage early childhood initiatives and invest in programming.
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Easier Access to Naloxone Linked to Fewer Opioid Deaths
Published On 5/15/2019
Between 2013 and 2016, nine states instituted laws that give pharmacists direct authority to dispense naloxone to anyone without a prescription. However, the impact of such changes has remained rather unclear. Now, an NIH-funded analysis has found that within a couple of years of these new laws taking effect, fatal opioid overdoses in these states fell significantly.
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Allowing Pharmacists to Directly Dispense Opioid Antidote Can Sharply Cut Opioid Overdose Deaths
Published On 5/9/2019
Allowing pharmacists to dispense the opioid antidote naloxone without a physician's prescription can sharply reduce the incidence of fatal opioid-related overdoses, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
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Meth Vs. Opioids: America Has Two Drug Epidemics, But Focuses On One
Published On 5/7/2019
While public health officials have focused on the opioid epidemic in recent years, another epidemic has been brewing quietly, but vigorously, behind the scenes. Methamphetamine use is surging in parts of the U.S., particularly the West, leaving first responders and addiction treatment providers struggling to handle a rising need.
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What electronic health record implementation issues are unique to rural settings?
Published On 4/25/2019
Fact sheet outlines barriers to electronic health record implementation in rural settings.
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Preventive Health Service Use among Rural Women
Published On 4/25/2019
This study provides a more current examination of national data to understand whether preventive health services differences among rural and urban women can be explained by health status and sociodemographic characteristics.
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FDA approves first generic naloxone nasal spray to treat opioid overdose
Published On 4/23/2019
The FDA today granted final approval of the first generic naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray, commonly known as Narcan, a life-saving medication that can stop or reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
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How has the quality of the U.S. healthcare system changed over time?
Published On 4/23/2019
This collection of charts explores trends in quality metrics in the United States over time.
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The Emergence of Population Health in US Academic Medicine: A Qualitative Assessment
Published On 4/23/2019
This qualitative study found an emerging trend in which new academic departments are launching in US medical schools to serve as home to research, education, and service efforts to improve population health and health equity.
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How a Public Health Goal Became a National Law: The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010
Published On 4/22/2019
Case study provides insights into policy strategy and advocacy best practices that resulted in passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA), a public health law that removed soda and other junk food from schools and resulted in unprecedented improvements to school meals with more whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and less salt and trans fat.
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Study Finds No Benefit for Dietary Supplements
Published On 4/22/2019
Based on an analysis of survey data gathered from more than 27,000 people over a six-year period, the NIH-funded study found that individuals who reported taking dietary supplements had about the same risk of dying as those who got their nutrients through food. What’s more, the mortality benefits associated with adequate intake of vitamin A, vitamin K, magnesium, zinc, and copper were limited to food consumption.
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Promoting Caregiver and Child Health Through Housing and Stability Screening in Clinical Settings
Published On 4/8/2019
Within the health care sector, researchers, clinicians, and payers increasingly recognize the importance of the social determinants of health for improving maternal and child health. The article focuses on existing and emerging approaches to screening families for unstable housing circumstances.
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Poor Education Predicts Poor Health - A Challenge Unmet by American Medicine
Published On 4/8/2019
Commentary states that American medicine has largely ignored the implications of the education-health relationship. Proposed steps to be taken by both the medical establishment and individual providers aim for a realistic target for improvements in educational achievement and health, but also a path out of poverty, a stronger workforce and a more stable economy.
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The Burden of Health Care Costs for Working Families
Published On 4/4/2019
Brief provides state-level data on the cost burden faced by working families who have employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) and examines how this burden varies across states, and how it has changed within states from 2010 to 2016.
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The Latest from ERS on Rural Poverty and Well-Being
Published On 4/4/2019
The Economic Research Service (ERS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture released data from its research on the economic, social, and demographic factors affecting rural poverty. The ERS reports that there are 353 persistently poor counties in the United States, meaning that 20 percent or more of their populations were living in poverty over the course of several decades. Eighty-five percent of these counties are rural. In 2017, more than one-third of non-metro families headed by a female with no spouse present were poor (33.8 percent), and nearly half of those with related children were poor (44.4 percent).
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Human Services to Support Rural Health
Published On 4/4/2019
A new topic guide launched last month at the Rural Health Information Hub provides a comprehensive look at social determinants of health and the role that factors such as food assistance, job training, and safe housing play on the overall health of rural communities. The guide uses data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (see the What’s New section above) and other federal data sources to scope social and economic well-being in rural areas, reviews federal assistance programs, and answers a list of frequently asked questions about integrating social services with health care.
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The Role of Medicaid Expansion in Care Delivery at Community Health Centers
Published On 4/4/2019
This brief uses data from the Commonwealth Fund 2018 National Survey of Federally Qualified Health Centers to compare the experiences of health centers in states that have and have not expanded Medicaid.
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NICHSR Tutorial: Finding and Using Health Statistics
Published On 4/4/2019
The National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR) is pleased to announce the release of a newly revised Health Statistics tutorial. Written by staff at AcademyHealth, this tutorial is aimed at students, librarians, and other professionals interested in an introduction to the principles behind health statistics.
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The U.S. Healthcare Cost Crisis
Published On 4/4/2019
Report presents the results from a survey on the impact of the high cost of healthcare on personal finances, individual healthcare choices and Americans' level of satisfaction with the U.S. healthcare system.
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A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty
Published On 4/1/2019
Report identifies four packages of policies and programs that emphasize both poverty reduction and work incentives that could substantially reduce child poverty in the U.S. These packages expand upon existing policies and programs, such as SNAP, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, and offer up new ones, such as a national job training program and a universal child allowance.
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Community Health Needs Assessments:Elevating Consumer Voices, Increasing Accountability&Collaboratio
Published On 3/29/2019
This report describes how community health needs assessment requirements can be leveraged to improve health in a community.
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Paid Family Leave Policies and Population Health
Published On 3/29/2019
This brief outlines the Paid Family Leave (PFL) policy landscape in the United States and the ways in which PFL may affect population health. It discusses empirical research on the effects of PFL on child and parental health, both in the United States and in other countries. It concludes by exploring the policy implications of this research and commenting on additional research that is needed to better understand the health effects of PFL.
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Food Support Programs and Their Impacts on Young Children
Published On 3/29/2019
This policy brief provides an overview and analysis of research on the health impacts on young children of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
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Examining Cancer Equity in Rural and Tribal Communities
Published On 3/25/2019
Please join CRCAIH, the South Dakota Public Health Association, and SLM Consulting as we host a Facebook live event to discuss cancer equity in rural and tribal communities during National Public Health week. You can join us in-person in Sioux Falls or online!

This hour long panel will allow 45 minutes for a panel presentation regarding cancer equity with 15 mins for Q&A from attendees.

More info to come!

Register here: https://goo.gl/forms/UhlnDzfU3Nm7eJ2H2
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Protecting the Health of Children: A National Snapshot of Environmental Health Services
Published On 3/25/2019
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IS A KEY PART OF PUBLIC HEALTH. It focuses on the connections between people and
the environment; promotes health and well-being; and helps create healthy, safe communities. Environmental health
professionals work to reduce exposure to harmful substances in air, water, soil and food. This work is especially important for
the protection of children.
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The Vector Control Tools & Resources (VeCToR) Toolkit 10 Essential Environmental Public Health Servi
Published On 3/25/2019
The Vector Control Tools & Resources (VeCToR) Toolkit provides tools and resources for program improvement activities that are in line with the 10 Essential Environmental Public Health Services.

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s 10 Essential Environmental Public Health Services form the framework used to evaluate the effectiveness of a community’s environmental public health system. The services are based on the three core functions of public health: assessment, policy development, and assurance, and provide a basis for program improvement for every area within environmental health departments.
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A Critical Connection: The Water and Healthcare/Public Health Sectors
Published On 3/25/2019
During emergencies, water utilities, healthcare facilities, nursing homes, public health agencies, primacy agencies and local emergency managers should work together to minimize detrimental impacts to public health caused by disruptions in drinking water and wastewater services. Early planning and communications are vital. Facilities such as hospitals need safe drinking water to care for patients, perform surgeries and sterilize instruments, especially when an emergency strikes a community. Water utilities need to know how they can best assist and advise their critical healthcare customers.
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City-Level Measures of Health, Health Determinants, and Equity to Foster Population Health Improveme
Published On 3/25/2019
By providing accessible city-level data on health and its determinants, the City Health Dashboard complements local surveillance efforts and supports urban population health improvement on a national scale.
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CMS Opioid Prescribing Mapping Tool Improved with Medicaid and Rural Data
Published On 3/8/2019
Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an expanded version of its tool that tracks rates of opioid prescribing over time and across regions to help inform prevention and treatment efforts. For the first time since the Opioid Prescribing Mapping Tool launched in 2015, the tool allows geographic comparisons of Medicare Part D opioid prescribing rates for urban and rural communities.
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More States Require Doctors to Offer Naloxone with Opioid Prescriptions
Published On 3/8/2019
New state laws and regulations are requiring providers to write prescriptions for both opioid painkillers and naloxone, a drug overdose reversal drug. Doctors in California, Virginia, Arizona, Ohio, Washington, Vermont, and Rhode Island must now “co-prescribe” when writing prescriptions for Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, morphine, codeine, and fentanyl to counter overdose deaths from these drugs. States are working hard to find any policy lever they can find to reduce overdose deaths, explained Kitty Purington, NASHP senior program director.
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A Connected Patient Is a Healthier Patient
Published On 3/8/2019
With people increasingly getting, sharing, and generating health information online, digital health technologies need to become more engaging, informative, and useful for medical researchers, clinicians, and patients alike.
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Promoting Health&Cost Control in States:How States Can Improve Community Health&Well-Being Through P
Published On 2/25/2019
Report identifies policies for good health that look beyond healthcare, part of a larger effort to foster cross-sector collaboration; because, changes to any given policy area can impact the population’s well-being and states’ ability to control costs.
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Social Determinants of Health Curriculum for Clinicians
Published On 2/25/2019
To help clinicians address social determinants of health (SDoH) within a framework that maximizes their skills while helping organizations systemically approach these challenges, the AHA Physician Alliance has created a virtual expedition consisting of five modules.
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Advance Care Planning: Selected States' Efforts to Educate and Address Access Challenges
Published On 2/22/2019
This report describes, among other things, (1) the challenges individuals and providers face completing and accessing advance planning documents, and (2) selected states' strategies for improving individuals' and providers' understanding of and access to advance care planning documents.
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Effects of Minimum Wages on Population Health
Published On 2/20/2019
A new issue brief examines the minimum wage, its effects on unemployment, poverty, and the health of low-wage workers and their families.
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USDA and HHS Partner to Create Recovery Housing in Rural Communities
Published On 2/20/2019
USDA Rural Development and HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will coordinate efforts to sell USDA’s Real Estate Owned (REO) single-family housing properties at a discount to non-profit organizations that provide housing, treatment, job training and other key services for people in substance misuse treatment and recovery.
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Health Care: Unlocking the Value of Data Sharing
Published On 2/20/2019
Paper provide a basic method for reaching out to those in your community who may share your interest in collaborating and sharing data.
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Awareness Around the Importance of Social Determinants of Health&Health Equity Increases
Published On 2/20/2019
As of mid-February, 29 bills in 11 states have been introduced in the current session that explicitly mention the social determinants of health or health-related social needs. These bills originate from Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, and West Virginia.
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Why the Rural Opioid Crisis Is Different From the Urban One
Published On 2/20/2019
As deaths from heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opioids soar in the U.S., a new study looks at the geographic factors driving the drug overdose epidemic.
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Executive Action as a Tool for Promoting Evidence-Based Public Health Decision-Making
Published On 2/20/2019
Gubernatorial executive orders and directives can serve as powerful tools for furthering public health goals. In addition to directing public health agency activities, establishing policies and priorities, and responding to emergencies, executive orders or directives can also play a role in shaping agency culture to promote effective public health decision-making.
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Building Cultures of Preparedness: Report for the Emergency Management Higher Education Community
Published On 2/13/2019
This report highlights the vast diversity of American communities and households, indicating that a one-size-fits-all strategy is not well-suited to the specific demands of variable and distinctive environments – our Culture of Preparedness will have to be built one community at a time.
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Health Services Research Special Issue: Putting Patients First: Today's Disparities Research Leading
Published On 2/12/2019
Open access issue of Health Services Research is focused on identifying groups of people who do not benefit equally from our health system and identifying root causes of these differences.
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Building Public Health Capacity to Advance Equity: A National Environmental Scan
Published On 2/12/2019
An environmental scan to explore governmental public health’s role in advancing health equity with racial equity as a major priority and community engagement as a central strategy.
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Patient-Centered, Integrated Health Care Quality Measures Could Improve Health Literacy, Language
Published On 2/12/2019
Paper argues that health care quality improvement measures could include health literacy, language access, and cultural competence - three critical factors to providing patient-centered care. Measurable improvements in these three domains would result in a more patient-centered and equity-based health care system - which, by its very nature, would provide higher quality care to all patients.
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Practicing Medicine in Rural America: Listening to Primary Care Physicians
Published On 2/6/2019
This feature is the third post in a series, “Listening to Primary Care Physicians for Low-Income Patients,” that draws on focus group research to illustrate the challenges of serving low-income patients. This post uses primary care physicians’ words to illustrate how serving low-income patients in rural communities can be particularly challenging.
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Comparing Poverty Rates under the Official Census Poverty Measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measu
Published On 2/6/2019
An interactive map that displays poverty among seniors.
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Tackling the Opioid Crisis: What State Strategies Are Working?
Published On 2/6/2019
NASHP officials met with policy makers from a dozen states to talk about their challenges and most promising policy strategies to tackle the opioid crisis. The group discussed and evaluated a range of policy approaches involving Medicaid, behavioral and public health departments, and governors’ offices.
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Health Care Affordability in Rural Communities (February 2019)
Published On 2/6/2019
Issue Brief highlights four strategies rural hospitals are using to improve value by reducing cost, improving quality or enhancing the patient experience.

Local training and hiring - Through local and inclusive hiring, rural hospitals can invest in an ecosystem that helps create career pathways and transforms communities while developing a more efficient workforce pipeline.14
Case study: Wagner Community Memorial Hospital–Avera, Wagner, S.D.
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Proposed Rural-Specific Objectives for Healthy People 2030 (2019)
Published On 2/6/2019
Proposal from the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health for rural-specific objectives to be considered for Healthy People 2030.
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“Health Is Wealth”: A Conversation with the U.S. Surgeon General
Published On 2/6/2019
In this podcast with Dr. Raphael Bostic, the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Dr. Jerome Adams, the Surgeon General of the United States, discuss the connection between health and wealth.
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Climate Resilient Pathways and Social Science Research to Actions
Published On 2/6/2019
Climate Resilient Pathways and Social Science Research to Actions

February 7, 2019
(1:00 - 5:15 pm EDT)

NAS Building, Room 125
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20418
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The U.S. Government and Global Health
Published On 2/6/2019
Factsheet outlines global health efforts HIV, tropical diseases, family planning, security, maternal/child health, and nutrition.
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The Case for State Action on Health Prices in 12 Slides
Published On 2/6/2019
In the last few months, NASHP has convened state leaders in two summits that addressed rising health care costs. With assistance from Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation and Erin Fuse Brown of Georgia State University College of Law, NASHP compiled a slide presentation documenting the factors behind the health care cost trajectory to help states make the case for action. In the months ahead, NASHP will present strategies states are pursuing to address the cost conundrum.
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Rural Medicine Realities: The Impact of Immersionon Urban-Based Medical Students
Published On 2/1/2019
The purpose of this study was to determine what effect a rural-based 8-week surgical clerkship during the third year of medical school in a rural setting has on students’ opinions about rural living and practice.
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Making Choice and Competition Work in Individual Insurance in Health Reform Proposals
Published On 2/1/2019
Brief examines the experiences of the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces and recommend ways policymakers can harness choice and competition to improve coverage, satisfaction, and affordability.
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Opioid Money Has Helped, But States Want More
Published On 2/1/2019
More than a decade into an opioid overdose epidemic that’s costing the nation at least $78 billion a year, emergency federal dollars have kindled local victories. But state and local officials say they need sustainable funding for what they expect to be a long-term struggle to provide effective treatment for legions of people addicted to opioids.
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2019 Healthcare Trends Forecast: The Beginning of a Consumer-Driven Reformation
Published On 2/1/2019
The report is organized around four key trends: digital health implications and applications, consumer impact, financial and demographic challenges, and issues of data governance and policy.
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Applying Population Estimation Methods in Rural America Toolkit
Published On 1/28/2019
Toolkit for population size estimation with specific emphasis on applying population estimation methods among people who inject drugs in rural communities.
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2020 Census Barriers, Attitudes, and Motivators Study (CBAMS) Focus Group Final Report (January 2019
Published On 1/25/2019
This report presents the findings from the 2020 Census Barriers, Attitudes, and Motivators Study (CBAMS) Focus Groups conducted among racial and ethnic minorities, those with low internet proficiency, young people who recently moved, rural residents, and audiences at risk of low self response.
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Three Hot Topics For The Health Policy Research Community In 2019
Published On 1/24/2019
In 2019, three hot topics will continue to demand action and timely evidence will be needed: health care spending, delivery system transformation, and persistent public health challenges.
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Opioids: Frequently Asked Questions (Updated January 2019)
Published On 1/23/2019
Fact sheet was developed to provide answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about opioids that affect regional ASPR staff, healthcare coalitions, healthcare entities, healthcare providers, emergency managers, and public health practitioners.
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County By County, Researchers Link Opioid Deaths To Drugmakers’ Marketing
Published On 1/23/2019
A study recently published in JAMA Network Open looked at county-specific federal data and found that the more opioid-related marketing dollars were spent in a county, the higher the rates of doctors who prescribed those drugs and, ultimately, the more overdose deaths occurred in that county.
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Mass Incarceration Threatens Health Equity in America
Published On 1/16/2019
Report examines the links between mass incarceration and health equity. Through pairing data with examples of successful approaches, this report shows how mass incarceration negatively impacts everyone’s health and well-being and also suggests solutions for reducing both incarceration and crime rates and increasing opportunities for all.
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How Quickly are States Connecting Applicants to Medicaid and CHIP Coverage?
Published On 1/14/2019
This brief analyzes the CMS application processing time data and uses the 2018 Kaiser Family Foundation survey of state Medicaid and CHIP eligibility and enrollment policies to examine selected eligibility and enrollment policies by application processing time.
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Hospital Admissions for Uncontrolled Diabetes Improving Among American Indians and Alaska Natives
Published On 1/14/2019
Using IHS data, the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report (NHQDR) team found significant decreases in hospital admissions for uncontrolled diabetes in the AI/AN population receiving treatment at IHS facilities. However, the declines are not as pronounced in younger age groups.
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Assessment of dietary patterns, physical activity and obesity from a national survey: Rural-urban he
Published On 1/11/2019
Open-access study assesses rural-urban differences in obesity rates in older adults, and the potential for the associations between obesity and physical activity and dietary patterns to vary by rural-urban status.
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The Role of State Health Leaders in Addressing Substance Use Disorders Among Women, Infants, and Fam
Published On 1/11/2019
This report highlights six public health approaches for addressing the rising incidence of substance use disorder and neonatal abstinence syndrome and draws out the critical role that state health leaders play in each.
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Drug Overdose Deaths Among Women Aged 30–64 Years — United States, 1999–2017
Published On 1/11/2019
From 1999 to 2017, the death rate from drug overdose among women aged 30–64 years increased by 260%. Drug overdose deaths involving antidepressants, benzodiazepines, cocaine, heroin, prescription opioids, and synthetic opioids all increased. Among women aged 30–64 years, the average age at death for drug overdose deaths increased by nearly 3 years.
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Data Maps the Impact of Where a Child Grows Up
Published On 1/10/2019
The Opportunity Atlas allows users to interactively explore data on children’s outcomes into adulthood for every Census tract in the United States. This can inform local efforts to build equitable, prosperous, and healthier communities.
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Measuring Resident Health Outcomes in Affordable Housing
Published On 1/9/2019
Tool enables its users to measure changes in resident health outcomes most likely to be influenced by healthy housing development.
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Privacy in the age of medical big data
Published On 1/9/2019
Article outlines the legal and ethical challenges big data brings to patient privacy.
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Public Health Preparedness Capabilities
Published On 1/7/2019
Site provides getting started guides for the public health preparedness capabilities: Public Health Laboratory Testing, Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation, Community Preparedness, Community Recovery, Medical Countermeasure Dispensing, Medical Material Management and Distribution, Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions, Emergency Operations Coordination, Emergency Public Information and Warning, Information Sharing, Fatality Management, Mass Care, Medical Surge, Volunteer Management, and Responder Safety and Health.
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TOOLKIT: Cervical Health Awareness Month
Published On 1/7/2019
Cervical Health Awareness Month in January is a chance to share information about how women can protect themselves from HPV (human papillomavirus) and cervical cancer. HPV is a very common infection that spreads through sexual activity, and it causes almost all cases of cervical cancer.
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How Accountable Care Organizations Use Population Segmentation to Care for High-Need, High-Cost Pati
Published On 1/4/2019
Brief explores how a group of mature ACOs are seeking to match patients with appropriate interventions by segmenting HNHC populations with similar needs into smaller subgroups.
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Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices: Managing Threats and Protecting Patients (December 2018)
Published On 1/2/2019
Report was developed to raise awareness, provide vetted cybersecurity practices, and move organizations towards consistency in mitigating the most pertinent cybersecurity threats. The HICP provides guidance on cost-effective methods that a range of healthcare organizations at every size and resource level can use to reduce cybersecurity risks.
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Patients’ Experiences in CAHs: HCAHPS Results, 2017 (January 2019)
Published On 1/2/2019
This report summarizes reporting rates and performance among all U.S. Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey for calendar year (CY) 2017.
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Improving Oral Health Care Services in Rural America (December 2018)
Published On 1/2/2019
Policy brief outlines barriers, highlights federal programs and initiatives, and provides policy recommendations to improve oral health care in rural America.
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Teens using vaping devices in record numbers
Published On 12/28/2018
America’s teens report a dramatic increase in their use of vaping devices in just a single year, with 37.3 percent of 12th graders reporting “any vaping” in the past 12 months, compared to just 27.8 percent in 2017. These findings come from the 2018 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey of a nationally representative sample of eighth, 10th and 12th graders in schools nationwide, funded by a government grant to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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Newborn Screening: More Than a PKU Screen (November 2018)
Published On 12/28/2018
Newborn Screening: More Than a PKU Screen (November 2018)
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2018 The Forces of Change in America's Public Health System
Published On 12/28/2018
Local health departments (LHDs) face both challenges and opportunities as the public health environment evolves, and NACCHO has periodically surveyed LHDs to assess the impact of this changing environment on their budgets, workforce, and activities. The 2018 Forces of Change survey was distributed to a stratified random sample of 966 LHDs in the United States; 591 completed it for a response rate of 61%. The survey included six topics: Budget Cuts and Job Losses, Response to Opioid Use and Abuse, Population Health Activities, Influenza Preparedness and Response, Informatics Capacity, and Environmental Health Activities.
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Getting to Zero Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities
Published On 12/28/2018
Report identifies many evidence-based and promising policies, programs, and systems changes to accelerate national progress in reducing deaths from alcohol-impaired driving.
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2018 in Review: CDC Looks Back at the Year’s Most Pressing Health Threats
Published On 12/28/2018
From the opioid overdose epidemic to foodborne disease outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance to the Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), CDC worked around the clock – and around the globe – to protect Americans from health threats in 2018. Here’s a closer look at some of the biggest health issues that CDC tackled in 2018.
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Health Care, Family,& Community Factors Associated with Mental, Behavioral,& Developmental Disorders
Published On 12/21/2018
Parent-reported data from 2016 showed that a higher percentage of children in lower-income households had ever received a diagnosis of an MBDD and a lower percentage had seen a health care provider in the previous year, compared with children in higher-income households. Most children in lower-income households were in families receiving public assistance benefits.
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Child Trauma and Opioid Use: Policy Implications
Published On 12/21/2018
Provides policymakers and other stakeholders with an overview of how substance use and trauma effects children, adolescents, and families; substance use-related impaired caregiving; and the impact of the opioid crisis on children and families. This policy brief offers recommendations for clinical interventions and training, as well as prevention efforts. (National Center for Child Traumatic Stress Network)
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Dissemination & Implementation Science for Public Health Professionals: An Overview & Call to Action
Published On 12/21/2018
Dissemination and Implementation Science for Public Health Professionals: An Overview and Call to Action
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Naloxone: The Opioid Reversal Drug that Saves Lives (December 2018)
Published On 12/20/2018
Guidance for healthcare providers and patients detailing how naloxone – the opioid overdose reversal drug – can help save lives and should be prescribed to all patients at risk for opioid complications, including overdose.
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Roundup of 2018 Approved State Telehealth Legislation (December 2018)
Published On 12/19/2018
Fact sheet summarizes 2018 state telehealth bills that have passed.
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What Is the Status of Women’s Health and Health Care in the U.S. Compared to Ten Other Countries?
Published On 12/19/2018
This brief compares U.S. women’s health status, affordability of health plans, and ability to access and utilize care with women in 10 other high-income countries by using international data.
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Overview of U.S. Hospital Stays in 2016: Variation by Geographic Region (December 2018)
Published On 12/19/2018
Brief presents statistics on hospital inpatient stays in 2016, with a focus on geographic variation based on the nine U.S. census divisions.
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How far Americans live from the closest hospital differs by community type
Published On 12/19/2018
Rural Americans are more likely than people in urban and suburban areas to say access to good doctors and hospitals is a major problem in their community. Nearly a quarter (23%) of Americans in rural areas say this, compared with 18% of urbanites and 9% of suburbanites, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year.
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America's Health Rankings Annual Report 2018
Published On 12/19/2018
America’s Health Rankings® presents its 29th Annual Report, continuing the United Health Foundation’s dedication to providing data that can help build healthier communities nationwide. The longest-running annual assessment of the nation’s health on a state-by-state basis provides updated data to serve as a benchmark for states and spark data-driven discussions on opportunities to promote the health and well-being of our country.
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6 Charts About Public Opinion On The Affordable Care Act
Published On 12/19/2018
Chart pack explores views and attitudes on the individual mandate, pre-existing conditions coverage, and state protection of pre-existing conditions.
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Vital Statistics Online Data Portal
Published On 12/17/2018
This page is a portal to the online data dissemination activities of the Division of Vital Statistics, including both interactive online data access tools and downloadable public use data files.
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Changes to the Nutrition Facts Label
Published On 12/17/2018
On May 20, 2016, the FDA announced the new Nutrition Facts label for packaged foods to reflect new scientific information, including the link between diet and chronic diseases such as obesity and heart disease. The new label will make it easier for consumers to make better informed food choices. FDA published the final rules in the Federal Register on May 27, 2016.
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The Electronic Health Record Problem
Published On 12/14/2018
Blogpost discusses the failing in current EHR systems and highlights potential benefits in their improvement.
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What's New for 2019 MeSH
Published On 12/14/2018
MeSH is the National Library of Medicine (NLM) controlled vocabulary thesaurus that is updated annually. NLM uses the MeSH thesaurus to index articles from thousands of biomedical journals for the MEDLINE/PubMed database and for the cataloging of books, documents, and audiovisuals acquired by the library. Post highlights changes to MeSH for 2019.
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Cancer Mortality in Rural America: 1999-2016
Published On 12/13/2018
For scholars and policymakers alike, understanding the burden of cancer on society is a critical topic for investigation. Cancer consistently ranks as the second leading cause of death in the U.S., and cancers of the prostate, breast, lung, and colorectal areas are particularly problematic. This policy brief from the Southwest Rural Health Research Center works to understand the scope of cancer mortality in rural and urban areas of the U.S. and across census regions. It finds that age-adjusted mortality rates are higher for lung, prostate, and colon cancer in rural areas than in urban areas but also that mortality rates are lower for breast and cervical cancers in rural areas than in urban areas. In addition, this brief identifies important discrepancies in cancer mortality across regions, with lower rates in the West for all analyzed cancer types except prostate cancer, and higher rates for most cancers in the rural South.
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Drugs Most Frequently Involved in Drug Overdose Deaths: United States, 2011–2016 (December 2018)
Published On 12/12/2018
This report identifies the specific drugs involved most frequently in drug overdose deaths in the United States from 2011 through 2016.
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Early Childhood Education and Care
Published On 12/12/2018
This report summarizes 17 selected federal programs that are particularly important for early childhood education and care.
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Five-Year Trends Available for Median Household Income, Poverty Rates and Computer and Internet Use
Published On 12/12/2018
The U.S. Census Bureau just announced the release of the 2013-2017 American Community Survey (ACS) five-year estimates, which features more than 40 social, economic, housing and demographic topics, including homeownership rates and costs, health insurance, and educational attainment.
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NASHP Launches Health Equity and Disparities Resource Page
Published On 12/11/2018
Many states are transforming their health care delivery systems to improve health and control costs. Reducing health disparities — and addressing the social and economic conditions driving them — is at the heart of many of these efforts. NASHP’s new resource page highlights current research and showcases successful state efforts to improve health equity, address the social determinants of health, and reduce health care disparities.
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Cross-Sector Partnerships to Improve Health and Housing Outcomes: Resource Guide (October 2018)
Published On 12/7/2018
CDC, HUD, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) brought together public, private, and nonprofit leaders on Nov. 29-30, 2016 to explore how they could work together to improve health and housing outcomes. This convening identified existing partnership, financing, and data-sharing approaches for cross-sector partnerships among healthcare, housing providers, and other sectors that improve health and housing outcomes. This resource guide synthesizes the lessons learned from the 2016 convening and provides public health leaders with strategies to build effective partnerships.
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Research roundup: What does the evidence say about how to fight the opioid epidemic?
Published On 12/7/2018
This post summarizes recent research on how to reduce opioid abuse and opioid-related mortality.
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Multinational Comparisons of Health Systems Data, 2018
Published On 12/4/2018
Chartbook uses data collected by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to compare health care systems and performance on a range of topics, including spending, hospitals, physicians, pharmaceuticals, prevention, mortality, quality and safety, and prices.
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Business Engagement to Promote Healthy Communities Through Child and Family Well-Being
Published On 12/4/2018
Paper explains how businesses can significantly bolster efforts to promote the well-being of children and families and why they should.
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CDC Update on Investigation of Multistate Outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 Infections Linked to Romaine L
Published On 12/3/2018
CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are now advising that U.S. consumers not eat and retailers and restaurants not serve or sell any romaine lettuce from the Central Coastal growing regions of northern and central California.
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Big Ideas for HIV Prevention and Treatment
Published On 12/3/2018
In advance of World AIDS Day on December 1st, the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law has released two new reports on emerging HIV issues in the United States, including policy ideas for states and local communities and for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. The reports were written by two leading HIV/AIDS policy experts, Jeffrey S. Crowley, Distinguished Scholar and Director of Infectious Disease Initiatives at the O’Neill Institute, and Sean Bland, a Senior Associate at the O’Neill Institute.
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Addressing Incidents of Bias in Schools: A Guide for Preventing and Reacting to Discrimination Affec
Published On 12/3/2018
This guide is designed to bring together a school community in order to address and prevents incidents of bias, discrimination and hate crimes. It includes suggestions for facilitating the discussions so that they are safe, illuminating and productive, as well as for organizing the process so that it fits in the daily rhythm of the school community.
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Environmental Biodetection and Human Biosurveillance Research and Development for National Security
Published On 12/3/2018
This report examines the Department of Homeland Security's chemical and biological defense research and development portfolio to identify priorities for future investments to effectively address biological threats.
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Evidence Brief: Use of Patient Reported Outcome Measures for Measurement Based Care in Mental Health
Published On 12/3/2018
Brief highlights measurement based care (MBC) delivery practices in mental health care, specifically in the context of using standardized patient-reported outcome measures in shared decision-making with individual Veterans.
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Medicare Laboratory Tests: Implementation of New Rates May Lead to Billions in Excess Payments
Published On 12/3/2018
This report addresses, among other objectives, (1) how CMS developed the new Medicare laboratory test payment rates; (2) challenges CMS faced in setting accurate payment rates and what factors may have mitigated these challenges; and (3) the potential effect of the new payment rates on Medicare expenditures.
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MEDLINE Data Changes—2019
Published On 12/3/2018
This article collects the notable data changes made to MEDLINE during the National Library of Medicine (NLM) annual maintenance known as Year-End Processing (YEP) for 2019.
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Another Drug Crisis: Methamphetamine Use By Pregnant Women
Published On 12/3/2018
A study published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health confirms the rise in meth use among pregnant women and provides new data illustrating the scope of the problem. The research, which analyzed hospital discharge records between 2004 and 2015, found that as opioid use among pregnant women has grown in recent years, so has their use of amphetamines, and particularly methamphetamine.
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Eighth Annual Report to Congress on High-Priority Evidence Gaps for Clinical Preventive Services
Published On 11/30/2018
In this annual report, the USPSTF highlights seven recent topics related to cancer prevention and cardiovascular health, the leading causes of death among adults in the United States, for which more research is needed. The report also calls for more research in populations who are disproportionally affected by these conditions, yet often underrepresented in studies. Future research in these areas can help fill these gaps and could result in important new recommendations that will help to improve the health of Americans.
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Strategies to Address High Unit Prices: A Primer for States
Published On 11/30/2018
This brief explores state options for controlling healthcare costs and notes that policy options vary in effectiveness depending on the presence (or absence) of competition between providers, prescription drug companies and device manufacturers.
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What is "Affordable" Health Care? A review of concepts to guide policymakers (November 2018)
Published On 11/30/2018
This brief considers affordability as an economic concept, as a kitchen-table budget issue for individuals and families, and as a threshold in current policy. It reviews a range of measures that capture the cost burden for individuals and families with different forms of coverage, in different financial circumstances, and with different health concerns.
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High-Value Care: Strategies to Address Underuse
Published On 11/30/2018
This brief reviews circumstances where high-value care is under-consumed and the strategies that can ensure patients receive proper levels of care, including provider incentives and consumer nudges.
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Suicide Mortality in the United States, 1999–2017
Published On 11/30/2018
This data brief uses final mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) to update trends in suicide mortality from 1999 through 2017 and to describe differences by sex, age group, and urbanization level of the decedent’s county of residence.
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Reducing Low-Value Care: Saving Money and Improving Health (November 2018)
Published On 11/30/2018
Despite the multitude of studies on the dangers and costs of providing low- and no-value care to patients, our healthcare system still delivers low-value care services. To help address this source of waste and inefficiency, this brief defines low-value care, describes who is likely to receive this care, and identifies strategies to reduce it.
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Association Between Health Insurance Literacy and Avoidance of Health Care Services Owing to Cost
Published On 11/30/2018
Study assesses the association between health insurance literacy and self-reported avoidance of health care services owing to cost.
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Better Clinical Care for Obesity and Diet-Related Diseases Requires a Focus on Social Determinants o
Published On 11/30/2018
The complications of obesity and diet-related diseases challenge the traditional model of health care delivery, in which care primarily rests with physicians, nurses, and other health professionals. These conditions instead require health systems to restructure care delivery to consider underlying drivers, which have traditionally fallen to professionals outside of the health care delivery system. Key among these underlying drivers are the social determinants of health.
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Nation’s Progress on Children’s Health Coverage Reverses Course
Published On 11/29/2018
For the first time in nearly a decade, the number of uninsured children in the United States increased. Recently released data shows an estimated 276,000 more children were uninsured in 2017 than in 2016. No state (except for the District of Columbia) experienced a significant decline in the number of uninsured children in 2017.
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Six Slides to Help New Governors Improve Their States’ Health
Published On 11/27/2018
Eighty percent of what affects health – such as housing, education, and income – is beyond the reach of clinical care, yet drives those costs higher. Incoming governors and their transition teams are making critical decisions about what kind of leaders they want and how to create and fund programs to implement effective health care policies. These six slides can give governors and their transition teams insights into what they need to know to promote prevention, ease health care costs, avoid lost productivity, and balance budgets to make their states among the healthiest.
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Health and Housing Toolkit Offers Resources to New Administrations
Published On 11/27/2018
Incoming state administrations seeking to improve health and control costs by aligning their states’ health and housing agendas will find numerous successful strategies and valuable information at NASHP’s Housing and Health Resources for States. This robust toolkit explores successful state efforts to combat homelessness, develop financially-sustainable health and housing programs, and promote housing free of health hazards like lead -- while breaking down state agency siloes. It also highlights the work of NASHP’s Health and Housing Institute, supported by a cooperative agreement with the US Health Resources and Services Administration.
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American Indians and Alaska Natives must be included in research on adverse childhood experiences
Published On 11/19/2018
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are an increasing area of interest among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. As this field of study grows, an equity lens can facilitate a greater understanding of the structural, historic, and systemic contexts that relate to limited ACEs data for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs), as well as disparate exposures to ACEs among this population. Three factors are important to consider in support of more equitable outcomes: AI/AN population characteristics, historical trauma and resilience, and tribal sovereignty.
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From Local Action to National Progress on 5 Major Health Challenges: The Bloomberg American Health I
Published On 11/19/2018
The articles in this supplemental issue of Public Health Reports provide insight into what it will take for the field of public health to tackle 5 of the most complex and difficult health problems of our time: (1) large numbers of adolescents disconnected from work and school; (2) violence (including gun violence), intimate partner and sexual violence, and suicide; (3) opioid addiction and overdose; (4) a dysfunctional food system associated with obesity; and (5) threats to the environment.
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Tobacco Product Use Among Adults — United States, 2017
Published On 11/19/2018
In 2017, an estimated 47.4 million U.S. adults (19.3%) currently used any tobacco product. Among current tobacco product users, 86.7% (41.1 million) smoked combustible tobacco products, and 19.0% (9.0 million) used two or more tobacco products.
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Obesity Among High School Students in the United States: Risk Factors and Their Population Attributa
Published On 11/19/2018
The prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents in the United States is high. The aim of this study was to assess the association between modifiable risk factors and obesity and to estimate the population attributable fractions (PAFs) of modifiable risk factors among high school students in the United States.
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The Great American Search for Healthcare Information
Published On 11/16/2018
Results from a survey of 1,700 American adults on healthcare information seeking.
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Rural Communities: Age, Income, and Health Status (November 2018)
Published On 11/15/2018
Recap identifies rural disparities in age, health status, and income.
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HUD Policy Brief on Housing Choice Vouchers: Understanding the Impact And Potential for Health Cente
Published On 11/14/2018
Brief explores the role that health centers can play in linking eligible individuals to sustainable, affordable housing and providing health care to participants in HUD’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.
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The Future of Health Services Research: Advancing Health Systems Research and Practice in the United
Published On 11/14/2018
Publication identifies the range of issues that health services research must consider, address, and potentially overcome to transform the field to meet the needs of a 21st-century health care system.
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USDA and ONDCP Unveil Latest Tool to Help Rural Communities Address the Opioid Epidemic
Published On 11/8/2018
Rural Resource Guide is the One-Stop-Shop Listing of Federal Programs That Can Support Grassroots Strategies to Address the Opioid Epidemic and Build Resiliency
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Uninsured Rates in Urban and Rural America
Published On 11/8/2018
A collection of interactive graphics providing data on uninsured rates for people under age 65 in completely rural counties, counties that are mostly rural, and counties that are mostly urban. Includes state and county-level data.
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Early Childhood Education to Promote Health Equity: A Community Guide Economic Review
Published On 11/7/2018
Economic review examines how the economic benefits of center-based early childhood education programs compare with their costs.
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Rural Individuals’ Telehealth Practices: An Overview (November 2018)
Published On 11/7/2018
Report analyzes three basic telehealth activities as practiced by consumers age 15 or older: (1) online health research; (2) online health maintenance (communication with health providers, including communicating with medical practitioners, maintaining records, and paying bills); and (3) online health monitoring via devices that exchange data remotely with medical personnel.
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The 2018 United States Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth
Published On 11/5/2018
Report card assesses the levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviors in American children and youth, facilitators and barriers for physical activity, and health outcomes related to physical activity.
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One Health
Published On 11/5/2018
One Health recognizes that the health of people is connected to the health of animals and the environment. It is a collaborative, multisectoral, and trans-disciplinary approach—working at the local, regional, national, and global levels—with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment.
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Nutrition Facts Label Reboot: A Tale of Two Labels
Published On 11/5/2018
The Nutrition Facts label that you may read when buying packaged foods or preparing a meal has undergone a makeover. It’s been updated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reflect updated scientific findings.
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SUPPORT for Families & Communities Act:New Funding & Flexibility for States to Address Substance Use
Published On 10/24/2018
Brief outlines Medicaid provisions in the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, a wide-ranging bill seeking to address the opioid crisis. The bill contains numerous provisions that affect how state Medicaid agencies structure and administer services and supports for individuals with opioid and other substance use disorders (SUD).
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State Telehealth Laws & Reimbursement Policies (Fall 2018)
Published On 10/24/2018
Report offers policymakers, health advocates, and other interested health care professionals a freshly redesigned summary guide of telehealth-related policies, laws, and regulations for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
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Maternal Opioid Misuse (MOM) Model
Published On 10/24/2018
Model addresses fragmentation in the care of pregnant and postpartum Medicaid beneficiaries with opioid use disorder (OUD) through state-driven transformation of the delivery system surrounding this vulnerable population. By supporting the coordination of clinical care and the integration of other services critical for health, wellbeing, and recovery, the MOM model has the potential to improve quality of care and reduce costs for mothers and infants.
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Opening Up Access to Research Findings
Published On 10/24/2018
In celebration of international Open Access Week, editor of eGEMs’ section Better Decisions Together Jessica S. Ancker highlights progress in breaking down paywalls to make sure that research is available to everyone.
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National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week 2018
Published On 10/22/2018
NLPPW, held October 21-27, 2018, is a call to action to bring together families, individuals, community-based organizations, state and local governments and others, to increase lead poisoning prevention awareness and increase efforts to reduce childhood exposure to lead.
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Best Practices&Innovative Solutions to Overcome Barriers to Delivering PSE Changes in Rural
Published On 10/19/2018
To better understand the barriers to implementing policy; systems; and environmental (PSE) change initiatives within Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) programming in U.S. rural communities; as well as strategies to overcome these barriers, this study identifies: (1) the types of nutrition-related PSE SNAP-Ed programming currently being implemented in rural communities; (2) barriers to implementing PSE in rural communities; and (3) common best practices and innovative solutions to overcoming SNAP-Ed PSE implementation barriers.
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Health Care in America: The Experience of People with Serious Illness
Published On 10/17/2018
Report examines the experiences of Americans with serious illness — the sickest of the sick — and those who help care for them, with the goal of understanding whether our health care system is doing all it can do not just to treat illness but to help people cope with illness.
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How Fentanyl Changes the Opioid Equation
Published On 10/17/2018
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl’s popularity didn’t take off until 2013, propelling what the agency now calls the third wave of the opioid epidemic, after painkillers and heroin.
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Life in Rural America (October 2018)
Published On 10/17/2018
This “Life in Rural America” report is based on a survey conducted for National Public Radio, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The survey was conducted June 6 – August 4, 2018, among a nationally representative, probabilitybased telephone (cell and landline) sample of 1,300 adults ages 18 or older living in the rural United States. The purpose of this survey was to understand the current views and experiences of rural Americans on economic and health issues.
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Data Sources and Data-Linking Strategies to Support Research to Address the Opioid Crisis (September
Published On 10/16/2018
This report presents findings from a scoping study to assess the types of data sources and data-linkage efforts that are currently being used or could potentially be leveraged to support research and evaluations relevant to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Strategic Priorities to combat the opioids crisis.
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Why the 2020 Census Matters for Rural America (October 2018)
Published On 10/16/2018
Brief explores how census data are used to determine which areas are considered rural, to inform other surveys that characterize rural residents, and to make funding decisions for federal programs that serve those residents.
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Five Things to Know About CDC's 6|18 Initiative
Published On 10/16/2018
This blog post, authored by CHCS along with CDC and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice blog, highlights five things to know about the 6|18 Initiative now underway in 34 states, territories, and localities across the country.
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ODP Strategic Plan FY 2019-2023, Prevention Research: Building a Healthier Future
Published On 10/9/2018
Plan includes six strategic priorities that will guide the activities of the Office over the next 5 years. To better integrate disease prevention into trans-NIH initiatives, we’ve introduced three new cross-cutting themes: leading causes and risk factors for premature mortality and morbidity, health disparities, and dissemination and implementation research.
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City Health Dashboard
Published On 10/9/2018
https://www.cityhealthdashboard.com/
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Investing in Rural America: Bringing Progress and Economic Opportunity to Rural Communities
Published On 10/3/2018
Report highlights the state of rural America and provides recommendations on improving financial security, education, infrastructure, affordable housing, and access to affordable healthcare.
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HRSA releases new data on child health across the U.S.
Published On 10/2/2018
HRSA has released the 2017 National Survey of Children’s Health data from nearly 21,000 households across the U.S. This voluntary survey, funded and directed by HRSA's Maternal and Child Health Bureau, provides annual national- and state-level estimates of key measures of child health and well-being.
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Federal report on health, well-being of America's children and youth now available
Published On 10/2/2018
The latest annual report of federal statistics on the health and well-being of America's children and youth is now available. The 2018 America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, highlights six measures on the status of children and youth who face heightened risks to their well-being.
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Updated State Medicaid Fact Sheets Highlight the Role of Medicaid in the U.S. Health Care System
Published On 10/1/2018
An updated collection of state Medicaid fact sheets from the Kaiser Family Foundation summarizes Medicaid coverage and spending nationally and in each state. The fact sheets for each state are accessible via an interactive map of the U.S. and display a wide range of data
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Health Insurance Coverage in Small Towns and Rural America: The Role of Medicaid Expansion
Published On 9/28/2018
This paper examines the status of insurance coverage for low-income citizen adults in the 46 states with significant rural populations.
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A community-based approach to rural health research
Published On 9/27/2018
The Collaborative for Rural Primary Care, Research, Education, and Practice (Rural PREP) is dedicated to making research more accessible through its community of practice activities. Rural PREP programs bring people together in a community of practice around education, training, and research.
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State Snapshots Provide a Fresh Look at State-Specific Health Care Quality Trends
Published On 9/26/2018
AHRQ has just released its 2017 State Snapshots, a set of online dashboards that each year provide updated, detailed analyses of how each State, plus the District of Columbia, is performing in important areas of health care quality.
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The State of Obesity: 2018
Published On 9/24/2018
Each year, the State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America report highlights the latest obesity trends as well as strategies, policies, programs, and practices that can reverse the epidemic.
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FDA launches new, comprehensive campaign to warn kids about the dangers of e-cigarette use
Published On 9/24/2018
“The Real Cost” Youth E-Cigarette Prevention Campaign will target nearly 10.7 million at-risk youth through digital platforms, social media, and in-school ads nationwide
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HHS Sponsors Development of Intranasal Form of Long-acting Opioid Overdose Drug
Published On 9/21/2018
To help save lives in the current opioid epidemic or following a deliberate attack, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will work with Opiant Pharmaceuticals of Santa Monica, California, to develop a fast-acting, long-lasting intranasal, potentially improved form of an opioid overdose drug.
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Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Spotlight on Opioids
Published On 9/20/2018
The Spotlight on Opioids assembles opioid-related information from the Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health into one document to better inform the general public, especially family and friends of people with an elevated risk of opioid overdose, opioid misuse, and/or opioid use disorder.
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CDC provides new funds to battle the opioid overdose epidemic
Published On 9/20/2018
To address the opioid overdose epidemic, the CDC is increasing support to states, territories, tribes, and non-governmental organizations working to prevent opioid-related overdoses, deaths, and other outcomes. CDC has awarded $155 million in new funding to states and four U.S. territories to advance the understanding of the opioid overdose epidemic and to scale-up prevention and response activities, including improving the timeliness and quality of surveillance data.
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HHS Awards Over $1 Billion to Combat the Opioid Crisis
Published On 9/20/2018
This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded over $1 billion in opioid-specific grants to help combat the crisis ravaging our country. The awards support HHS's Five-Point Opioid Strategy, which was launched last year and enhanced this week. New data unveiled recently by HHS suggests that efforts are now yielding progress at the national level.
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Healthy Pregnancy Healthy Baby Factsheets
Published On 9/20/2018
This series of four fact sheets emphasizes the importance of continuing a mother's treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) throughout pregnancy. The series includes information on OUD and pregnancy, OUD treatment, neonatal abstinence syndrome, and considerations to address before hospital discharge.
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Measuring Community Stress
Published On 9/20/2018
Report investigates whether a community that experiences challenges—for instance, high unemployment, community violence, segregation, or high opioid use—could develop community allostatic load, which, in turn, could affect how it responds to future traumatic events.
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MAP Rural Health Final Report - 2018
Published On 9/19/2018
More than 59 million individuals—approximately 19 percent of the U.S. population—live in rural areas. Data indicate that those living in rural areas in the U.S. are more disadvantaged, collectively, than those in urban or suburban areas, particularly with respect to sociodemographic factors, health status and behaviors, and access to the healthcare delivery system. In recognizing the lack of representation from rural stakeholders in the Measures Application Partnership (MAP) pre-rulemaking process, CMS tasked the National Quality Forum (NQF) to establish a MAP Rural Health Workgroup. Between November 2017 and July 2018, the MAP Rural Health Workgroup focused on two primary tasks: (1) identifying a core set of the best available rural-relevant measures to address the needs of the rural population and (2) providing recommendations from a rural perspective regarding measuring and improving access to care.
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Surgeon General's Call to Action: “Community Health and Prosperity”
Published On 9/17/2018
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the opening of a docket to obtain comment on an upcoming Surgeon General's document/Call to Action with a working title “Community Health and Prosperity”.



CDC is the lead agency to support the Office of the Surgeon General to publish a Call to Action that will be science-informed and actionable, outlining a conceptual framework with case examples and available evidence on the business case for investing in community health. The goal of the Call to Action is to: Clearly demonstrate that investments in community health have the potential to improve the health and prosperity of communities and issue a call to action to the private sector and local policy makers for investment in communities, unilaterally or as part of multi-sector or other consortium, to improve community health.
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7 States Now Report Obesity at or Above 35%
Published On 9/17/2018
Today, CDC released new data on self-reported adult obesity prevalence for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The 2017 Adult Obesity Prevalence Maps show that adult obesity prevalence across the country remains high and differs by race, ethnicity, and education.
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Speak for Health is how APHA members stand up for public health interests.
Published On 8/30/2018
APHA believes public health professionals deserve a stronger voice in public health advocacy. Together, we can change the narrative and turn the tide.

APHA is the leading voice for public health in Washington. The policies we advance are based in science, research and member-led processes.

Join us and Speak for Health — for today and future generations.

APHA's Speak for Health campaign gives you the tools you need to talk to your members of Congress about the importance of public health.
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Public Health ACTion Campaign South Dakota
Published On 2/20/2018
https://www.apha.org/~/media/files/pdf/advocacy/phact/phact_south_dakota.ashx
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Simple facts on Ebola
Published On 10/29/2014
Information on Ebola from APHA Executive Director Georges C. Benjamin
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