374: New COVID-19 Dashboard, Biden’s Proposed Budget

ROBERT JOHNSON:

This is Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, March 10th, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

CAROLYN MULLEN:

So, what we're seeing right now, is a proposed increase for CDC for the state and local levels, including expanding capacity to respond to emerging threats, surveillance laboratory and public health workforce capacities.

JOHNSON:

ASTHO's Carolyn Mullen talking about the release of President Biden's proposed budget for the new fiscal year. We'll have more on that later in the newscast.

LAURA KLIETHERMES:

Missouri's COVID funding dashboard was created to offer transparency to our constituency, both in the Missouri legislature and Missouri citizens.

JOHNSON:

Laura Kliethermes, with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, explaining the goal behind the agency's interactive online COVID-19 funding dashboard.

KLIETHERMES:

We're really focused on transparency as our key factor, and then how we can use that transparency to tell our virtual stories. And then also, an important factor is communicating to the Missouri General Assembly about how these dollars are being used and how they are impacting those local communities.

JOHNSON:

Sami Jo Freeman also works at the department. She says the dashboard tells the COVID-19 funding story and connects dollars to agency action.

SAMI JO FREEMAN:

So, we have examples through our local public health agencies. We have examples here at the agency level. And it really just makes that connection a little bit more real. Because I think we all know from the federal standpoint, there's a lot of money headed to states and it's very hard to relate that money to the people we serve without those tangible stories.  Missouri's Sarah Finley says every public health agency should consider a similar dashboard to help build public trust.

SARAH FINLEY:

I think it depends on their staffing, availability and capacity. We here at Missouri are very fortunate to have a good visualization team here. So, if you have access to Tableau or Power BI and those kinds of visualization tools, then I would definitely encourage others to emulate this project.

JOHNSON:

You can visit the Missouri COVID-19 funding dashboard using the link in the show notes. The president released his proposed budget for the new fiscal year this week. The ASTHO's Government Affairs team is working through the numbers to evaluate the impact on public health funding and programs. ASTHO's Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Relations, Carolyn Mullen, is here to tell us more in her view from the Washington, D.C. report. The president's budget was released this week. What is important to know about it at this point in time?

MULLEN:

The president's budget is a list of the administration's priorities for the upcoming fiscal year, and it kicks off our annual appropriation season with Congress. This document has a lot of names up on Capitol Hill, it's oftentimes called "Dead on Arrival", or the president proposes, and Congress disposes. I don't really agree with that terminology, to be quite frank. Oftentimes, the president's budget includes it a lot of funding proposals and policy changes that can oftentimes garner bipartisan attraction. For example, when President Trump years ago released his president's budget, including there was a new initiative to end the HIV epidemic that actually garnered widespread bipartisan support and funding followed that. So, there's a lot of good things that could be in the president's budget, and there can be some challenging aspects to it.

JOHNSON:

Well, speaking of that, what do you like, that you see so far? And do you know of any challenges yet?

MULLEN:

So, the President's budget is just again, that proposal and Congress has the authority to approve or reject anything that's in that document. So, what we're seeing right now is a proposed increase for CDC for the state and local levels, including expanding capacity to respond to emerging threats, surveillance laboratory and public health workforce capacities. The budget also includes a 20 billion mandatory funding for HHS public health agencies in support of pandemic prevention and preparedness. It also includes a new mandatory proposal for national program to significantly expand screening, testing, treatment, and monitoring of hepatitis C infections in the United States. So that's a new proposal that's been talked about for many years, so we'll see if that Garner's bipartisan support. In addition to those key initiatives, there's also increased funding for tobacco cessation Title 10, rural hospital programs and health care workforce initiatives.

JOHNSON:

And as far as the challenges go, too early to know that?

MULLEN:

It is far too early to know the challenges included in the president's budget proposal. One of the reasons why is we're only looking at brief documents right now, it's our understanding the president's going to release more detailed documents on March 15. Those are known as the Congressional Budget justifications. So those go line by line by each program, project and activity. And as advocates, we can look in greater detail to see what the proposed funding or decreases and the impact that would have on the programs and our jurisdictions funding allotments.

JOHNSON:

Sounds like we'll have something to talk about in a future view from Washington report. Lastly, Carolyn Mullen, how do you use this budget to advocate, and what are the next steps for you and the team?

MULLEN:

So next steps for me and the team is to really dive into the details of this document. It's multi 1000s of pages long. And so, it's going to take us some time to digest and really understand all the nuances and details. And then we're going to look with a careful eye to where the president's budget aligns with our priorities, which include public health infrastructure, data modernization and social determinants of health. Moreover, we'll be looking for other initiatives such as hepatitis C program, it seems really like it may have a bright future ahead of it in Congress, and to see if there's a way that we can get some bipartisan support for some of these initiatives included in the bill. But we really need to dig in deeper to it and get a better understanding of this proposal, and then work with Congress in a collaborative way to make sure some of these new initiatives become reality.

JOHNSON:

This budget came out yesterday. Thanks for taking a quick look at it with us. We'll look forward to hearing more of your thoughts down the line.

MULLEN:

Thanks so much, Robert.

JOHNSON:

Stay in the loop about policy moves happening on Capitol Hill and in state capitals across the country with ASTHO's legislative alert emails. You can get on the list using the link in the show notes.

That'll do it for today's newscast. We're back Monday morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great weekend.