412: May 11 Preps, Linking Data to Protect Kids

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, May 3, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson.

Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

MICHAEL FRASER: 

What May 11 means really depends on where you sit.

JOHNSON: 

ASTHO CEO Dr. Mike Fraser on the end of the public health emergency coming next week.

FRASER: 

For the folks that hadn't had to re-enroll in Medicaid, for example, there's going to be a huge burden when the emergency ends and states are already re-enrolling people now. So primarily, this is an issue of import to those states. And those state health departments that operate Medicaid programs, that's going to be a huge lift to make sure folks re-enroll and maintain coverage if they're eligible. And certainly, I think we're going to see folks fall through the cracks and decreasing demand for health services for those folks who don't have insurance and aren't able to get it in the marketplace for whatever reason.

JOHNSON: 

Fraser says ASTHO members have spent the last several months getting ready for this moment.

FRASER: 

We all knew this was coming, we had plenty of notice. And actually, I've been working with federal agencies in the administration to make this as smooth as possible.

JOHNSON: 

ASTHO saw its role expanded during the pandemic and managed a lot of change over the last three years.

FRASER: 

We just did an analysis that, since the start of COVID, we had 71 health official transitions. So that's a lot of onboarding and orientation for new health officials over the last couple of years. So there's a lot of learning from COVID. I think many of us are still processing it.

JOHNSON: 

The organization plans to recognize the end of the emergency. Fraser says there are many reasons to pause and reflect.

FRASER: 

You know, certainly we're going to observe the date. And we're going to have a staff gathering on May 11 to recognize the three years of tireless work of both our members as well as our staff in supporting our members through this pandemic. So it's sort of that marker. It's a memorial time. It's appreciation and recognition time, it's not a celebration time. I mean, we lost over a million people, you know, tremendous cost to families, to our economy. And I think we're going to reflect. But it's certainly a time to look back, but also look forward. So what what did we learn? How are we incorporating that into the into the future of public health? And there's a lot there that we need to continue to think about.

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

Linking data from different sources could lead to solutions that can help prevent child abuse. Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson is a physician and a leading child advocate in Alaska. She says a project in the state seeks to connect data points that can help children have better lives.

CATHY BALDWIN-JOHNSON: 

It's the Alaska Longitudinal Child Abuse and Neglect Linkage project, or ALCANLink, and what it does is link data from different sources in the state.

JOHNSON: 

Baldwin-Johnson says the PRAMS survey is a primary source of data for the project.

BALDWIN-JOHNSON: 

PRAMS asks moms right after they, in that, you know, very soon after they've had their babies, about the kinds of things that they may have experienced either during pregnancy or in the year prior to becoming pregnant, and then ask them about kind of pregnancy outcomes as well. And then that information then gets linked with other forms of administrative data here in this state.

JOHNSON: 

Baldwin-Johnson says those sources are varied.

BALDWIN-JOHNSON: 

Those kinds of administrative data include things like reports to our child protection system, whether or not services from you know, public programs are accessed, and even some educational outcomes like reading level and things like that.

JOHNSON: 

The goal, according to Baldwin-Johnson, is to predict risk and prevent adverse childhood experiences before they happen.

BALDWIN-JOHNSON: 

So you can say, yes, we know that these factors are substantially going to increase this child's risk of having a report made to child protection agencies in first so many years of their life. And those risks are things that can actually be identified before that child is ever born. And it allows them to prenatally to be able to offer resources to moms and families that are at risk to hopefully reduce that lifetime accumulation of ACEs.

JOHNSON: 

ASTHO has a blog article about the work to prevent childhood violence, abuse, and neglect in Alaska and Montana. You can read it using the link in the show notes.

Also today, learn more about the Healthy Brain Initiative Road Map in an ASTHO eLearning module now online. The module will includes an overview of the initiative and an action planning template. You can access the course using the link in the show notes.

Finally this morning, ASTHO has new job openings. The organization is hiring a director of public health data modernization, a manager of regional office meetings and events, and a manager of learning and hybrid events. There's a link to the ASTHO careers webpage in the show notes.

That'll do it for today's newscast. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information.

I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.