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Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, president and CEO of Trust for America's Health, discusses the 21st edition of the Ready or Not Report; Catherine Jones, ASTHO Government Affairs senior analyst, tells us ASTHO’s Hill Day program in late February continues to...
Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, president and CEO of Trust for America's Health, discusses the 21st edition of the Ready or Not Report; Catherine Jones, ASTHO Government Affairs senior analyst, tells us ASTHO’s Hill Day program in late February continues to receive high marks; and an ASTHO webinar on the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement with ASTHO President Dr. Steven Stack, will take place in April.
ASTHO Webinar: TEFCA Overview and Perspectives from the Field
ROBERT JOHNSON:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, March 18, 2024. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
NADINE GRACIA:
So, Ready or Not reports our annual assessment of the nation's public health preparedness where it measures states' readiness to respond to an emergency based on a core set of key preparedness indicators.
JOHNSON:
The Trust for America's Health is out with the 21st edition of its Ready or Not report organizing states and the District of Columbia into three categories according to preparedness criteria. This is TFAH President and CEO Dr. Nadine Gracia.
GRACIA:
If we look across the nation, areas of strong performance include that a majority of states have plans in place to be able to expand their healthcare capacity, as well as their public health laboratory capacity in times of an emergency. Most states are also accredited either in the areas of public health or emergency management or in both.
JOHNSON:
Gracia says the report encourages states to prepare for the next emergency.
GRACIA:
An important message is that regardless of what tier, performance tier, that a state is placed in, whether it's high, middle, or low, every state can take actions to really improve their emergency preparedness.
JOHNSON:
The latest report includes a special section on the increasing dangers of extreme heat.
GRACIA:
We need to really use these public health emergencies from the COVID-19 pandemic to other infectious disease outbreaks, the environmental threats, the extreme weather-related events, and other natural disasters to really serve as that call to action that we have to invest in public health for the long-term: sustained, stable and reliable, flexible funding.
JOHNSON:
The report is on TFAH's website. The link is in the show notes.
ASTHO's Hill Day program in late February continues to receive high marks. This is ASTHO's Catherine Jones.
CATHERINE JONES:
This year's Hill Day was a great success. ASTHO's team and visiting members had very productive meetings with representatives of the House and Senate to discuss public health priorities for FY24 and FY25.
JOHNSON:
The annual program also included meetings with key federal policymakers.
JONES:
So, ASTHO's board of directors met with Secretary Becerra, along with leadership from the White House Office of Pandemic and Preparedness Response Policy, and other federal agency leadership. Some of the key topics covered were workforce shortages, maternal health, drug shortages, rural health, HIV, AIDS, and general emergency preparedness.
JOHNSON:
And Jones says the island areas had another strong showing this year.
JONES:
We have strong representation from our island jurisdiction members to talk to committee staff about the impacts of Medicaid funding, emerging trends and priorities in their health systems, and the Compact of Free Association also known as COFA.
JOHNSON:
ASTHO has a new blog article about the most recent Hill Day program. You can read it using the link in the show notes.
Also today, an agreement that would improve data sharing across jurisdictional lines will be explained during an upcoming ASTHO webinar. O'Keyla Cooper has more.
O'KEYLA COOPER:
Join ASTHO on Thursday, April 4 at 4 p.m. ET for a virtual discussion on the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement featuring expert panelists including ASTHO President Dr. Steven Stack. Gain insights into TEFCA's implications for public health agencies, perspectives on readiness for participation, and legal considerations. Register for this event by clicking the link in the show notes.
ROBERT JOHNSON:
Finally this morning, get a weekly update of everything happening at ASTHO when you sign up to receive the Public Health Weekly email newsletter. It's a great compliment to this report and it's only a click away. Sign up now using the link in the show notes.
Before we go, a reminder also to follow this newscast on your podcast player and connect with ASTHO on social media. We are on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
