448: Vital Records Accreditation Matters, Therapeutic Psilocybin Programs Gain Traction

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, June 26, 2023. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

MARIAH POKORNY: 

Vital Records Health Statistics accreditation betters public health by identifying those areas that we can stretch. Specific measures highlight and promote better data sharing opportunities within the department and accreditation for agency and vital records health statistics really shines a spotlight on quality and process improvement.

JANSON SILVERS: 

Mariah Pokorny with the South Dakota Department of Health says accreditation gives an agency's vital records process more credibility.

MARIAH POKORNY: 

So, once you're accredited, there is better support from leadership that helps encourage that year-round process improvement and gathering stakeholder input. Both of those projects encourage programs to always have an eye on what they can improve on or share what's working well with other programs. And to promote improvement department wide.

JANSON SILVERS: 

Pokorny says her small team achieved accreditation during the pandemic.

MARIAH POKORNY: 

We really learned that this wasn't just an activity that we were going to do once and have it sit on our shelf or you know, display that we were the first vital records in the nation to become accredited, we're really able to look at the processes daily that we do, and look for ways that we can improve and most of all, share with our colleagues for the betterment of the industry and our state.

JANSON SILVERS: 

You can read more about South Dakota's Vital Records Office using the link in the show notes.

Public health infrastructure grants are changing the way agencies invest in community partnerships. Robert Johnson gets more from Chantell Reed, Deputy Director of Health at the Multnomah County Health Department in Oregon, during a conversation in Chicago last month.

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

Tell us about the opportunity you see for public health right now, given how much money is coming in to public health and certainly how much need exists out there in the communities across the country.

CHANTELL REED: 

So, I have to say we're in unprecedented times. We've said often in public health, that it's either feast or famine. And we are certainly right now in what's called this public health feast. We have a unique opportunity to really make sure that we do some transformative things that will have long lasting impact for years to come. It is right now where we build a framework for how we prepare ourselves for long-term support services, long-term support for policy change, long-term infrastructure placement for how we do surveillance, preventative measures and real, true population health response in our community. I'm excited about the opportunity because this is the stuff that we've been talking about for years, like, "Oh, if I had the money, this is what I would do." It is now, but it's able to be put that into action, I've said like, "Now is where we seize the day." And alongside with, you know, my colleagues, not just in Multnomah County and in the state, but across the country. It is now where we can really do the things that we've been longing to do for a long time.

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

And let's talk about one of those. It has to do with community based organizations, what are you doing in your county to marry up all of this opportunity for those organizations?

CHANTELL REED: 

So, you know, right now we're framing up equity in a whole bunch of different ways. And when we frame up equity, we want to make sure that we have community voice. So, that's working with community based organizations and working with CBOs. How you do that is you got to get grassroots. So there's some long term community based organizations that have been working, but there are some that need additional help more so than others. What we've done specifically in Multnomah County is we've tried to work with some equitable practices that have just changed how we've done contracting. We've gone in and we've really kind of repositioned, like, how we framed our contracting processes in order to make sure that we can support them with some technical assistance, how we can give them support in order just from beginning to end. They're doing the work traditionally, but we want to make sure that they can have, like, whatever supportive needs, whether it is financial assistance, whether it is guidance on just developing their business plans, developing whatever they need, just in order to be able to be able to provide that long term support. We were doing it during COVID and the CDC Infrastructure Grant will allow us to be able to continue that work well beyond that. It's an opportunity that we've never had before, but we're putting the ground framework in place in order to be able to carry it on and I'm excited about that.

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

Have you seen any results yet from this approach that you're taking?

CHANTELL REED: 

Well, we have a couple of organizations that we're hoping to implement this practice in. Our group, we have a small group within the department that have just finished NNPHI's Strategic Scholars. That group is framing up their project, they're framing up their project to the resource management group, to begin with this organization to- to begin, I'm hoping sometime in the summer, but we're going to hit the ground running immediately after that. So, I know that it's possible, I'm looking forward to see it into action, but we got to continue to work. So.

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

What's the goal of helping the CBOs get better at what they do and getting that money to them quicker?

CHANTELL REED: 

They are going to be able to reach communities that we aren't able to reach traditionally, as a health department. They have the cultural humility, they have the sense, and they have that interaction that we aren't going to be able to reach as a department and as an institution. They have the knowledge, they have the acumen in order to be able to support in a more meaningful way. And it also builds up our Community Health Worker Network, in order to be able to just guide them and navigate them through processes that actually we just don't have the capacity also to do. So, that will change how we do business as a public health agency, and that is also you know, going to reach our imprint.

JANSON SILVERS: 

Also, today, some states are working to establish therapeutic programs using natural psychedelic compounds. Oregon, in many respects, is leading the way.

MAGGIE DAVIS: 

In 2020, the voters of Oregon voted by referendum to both decriminalize psilocybin and direct the Oregon Health [Authority], which is their health department, to establish a therapeutic psilocybin program. So, since late 2020, the Oregon Health Authority has been working to create the first therapeutic psilocybin program in the country.

JANSON SILVERS: 

Maggie Davis, ASTHO's Director of State Health Policy says numerous studies have shown clinically significant results in this arena, but there are challenges to making this a widespread therapy.

MAGGIE DAVIS: 

For researchers, they must get FDA approval before they start a study to study psilocybin or any Schedule I drug for therapeutic purposes and for accepted medical use. So, it does take a lot of resources before a researcher can even get to the stage to determine whether or not it is a useful substance to treat a disorder. It does slow down the process quite a bit because you have to have the resources in the interest of a research institution to study this, as well as the savvy to navigate the FDA process.

JANSON SILVERS: 

ASTHO has a blog article on this subject in the show notes.

Finally, this morning, the tobacco endgame is the topic of an ASTHO webinar tomorrow. O'Keyla Cooper has more.

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

Don't miss out on tomorrow's conversation on building state readiness for the tobacco endgame. Register today to join a virtual panel of policy experts discussing vital strategies for phasing out tobacco products and addressing disparities. The event hosted by ASTHO and Action on Smoking and Health is complementary and scheduled for tomorrow, June 27, from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM Eastern Time. Visit the link in the show notes to register.

JANSON SILVERS: 

That'll do it for today's newscast. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers, you're listening to Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.