705: BREAKING NEWS - New Centers to Support Agency Data Modernization Work

SUMMER JOHNSON:   

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, July 12, 2024. I'm Summer Johnson. Now today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. 

JENNIFER LAYDEN:   

We need a fast, secure and reliable connections. And we need to align our technology and public health with healthcare. 

JOHNSON:   

ASTHO, the National Network of Public Health Institutes, and the Public Health Accreditation Board want to help agencies modernize their data systems with the launch of a new implementation center program. Dr. Jennifer Layden is the director of the Office of Public Health Data surveillance and technology at the CDC. 

LAYDEN:   

So, these implementation centers are there to help health departments to provide direct support to health departments to adapt new technology and data standards to help better connect the exchange of data between the public health ecosystem and healthcare systems. 

JOHNSON:   

The CDC will invest $255 million in the center as part of the public health infrastructure grant program, also known as PHIG. The money will pay to operate four centers with one dedicated to support for tribal health agencies and organizations that serve tribes.  

LAYDEN:   

The implementation centers will help jurisdictions providing that direct assistance to enable them to build up the technical capacity to establish these automated, secure ways to connect and exchange data with healthcare.  

JOHNSON:   

The new Implementation Center Program is a three year initiative to help public health agencies modernize their data systems. 

TABATHA OFFUTT-POWELL:   

So they're going to work with the centers to implement the technology solutions. They're gonna look at their current technology stack and their connections that they have with the health care laboratories, health care providers, and being able to exchange those data and implement those solutions that are most modern. 

JOHNSON:   

That's Tabatha Offutt-Powell, ASTHO's vice president of Public Health Data Modernization and Informatics. 

OFFUTT-POWELL:   

It's really going from that space of the older technology and the more manual processes, removing those silos and acknowledging and celebrating the fact that this health ecosystem is really that partnership between our public health departments and agencies across that spectrum of being able to exchange really key health information.  

JOHNSON:   

She says the center's are key to helping agencies accomplish their data modernization goals.  

OFFUTT-POWELL:   

So, it's really going to address the needs to implement modern technology solutions and our public health ecosystem. And I really think that acknowledges and leverages the work that our national partners are doing, and of those within our health and our laboratory and technology space in a really collaborative way. 

JOHNSON:   

ASTHO, the National Network of Public Health Institutes, and the Public Health Accreditation Board, support PHIG grant recipients as the PHIG national partners. You can get more information on the fig website. The link is in the show notes. 

Congress is working on budgets for the new fiscal year, ASTHO's Carolyn Mullen tells us what that means for public health. In her latest View from Washington, D.C. report.  

Carolyn this week, details of the FY 25 House Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill were released. Walk us through those. 

CAROLYN MULLEN:   

Right, So earlier this week, the House Appropriations Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2025 Appropriations bill and this is their version of what they think funding should be in the upcoming fiscal year. Unfortunately, this bill is pretty bad for public health. Specifically, it proposes the outright elimination of the CDC Injury Center, which would have a devastating impact on our members work on suicide prevention, and opioid overdose and prevention activities. The report language accompany in the bill said that one of the reasons why there was elimination is because of the overhead amount that CDC has, and so they shifted those funds over to SAMSA. So it's very disappointing to see that rhetoric in the bill. The other concern I have is there was a number of other eliminations including ending the HIV epidemic, eliminate the prevent block grant eliminating tobacco cessation programs, and there was no report language in the bill indicating congressional intent. And it makes our jobs really hard. And to be honest, it's lazy legislating when Congress doesn't provide the details of why they're making these decisions to eliminate programs. So, it was disappointing to see that also just really disappointing to see that after all of this work that we've done in our advocacy efforts on the hill, The bill didn't match the meetings that we're having behind the scenes, we heard really positive feedback from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle for the work that our members are doing in their jurisdictions. So, this bill just runs counter to those private behind the door meetings that we're having. So, it felt very political, this legislation, and just an unfortunate movement in the appropriations process. 

JOHNSON:   

How do you think the Senate will respond?  

MULLEN:   

We're hearing that the Senate is going to reject this, that the Senate is going to include some emergency supplemental funding in their mark of the bill, most likely will be a 3% increase over fiscal year 2024 levels. So, it's not going to match the House bill at all. My concern is when the negotiations need to start between the House and the Senate, because the House bill is so bad, you know, what will the Senate have to give up in order for it to be a bipartisan piece of legislation,just as a reminder to our listeners, any appropriation bill that passes the Senate, you need 60 votes, which means that needs to be really bipartisan. And so in the negotiation efforts, they're going to need to give away some things. And hopefully, it's not a lot of the programs that our members care about. But it's a long process. We're in an election year, and a lot can change in the next six months. 

JOHNSON:   

How does this inform your thinking and strategies moving into the presidential election cycle?  

MULLEN:   

So I've been working in appropriations for 22 years, not much surprises me. This bill surprised me, the House bill, and I have never seen an elimination of a center. And the rationale that was utilized is concerning to me. And it means that we need to really be focused on telling the stories better. You know, when Trump was president, he declared a public health emergency on the opioid crisis. And as a result, CDC got an increase of $350 million. You know, that was many years ago. So how those dollars has been spent? How have they been impacting the community? How many lives have we saved? So we, ASTHO, needs to do a better job of telling that story. Clearly, it hasn't resonated with Congress. So, that's how I'm thinking about our strategy. We'll also need to talk about the Prevent Block Grant, how that is separate and distinct from the public health infrastructure funding. But not everything was bad in this house bill, there were some bright lights so they increased public health infrastructure funding, they kept data modernization funding level, so that is a good indicator. So we'll just keep up our efforts there, but certainly need to ramp up our advocacy with the Senate. And then also, you know, thinking about the presidential election, educating Biden and Trump about the benefit of public health programs and the communities our members serve. 

JOHNSON:   

Substance usese disorder policies are examined in a new acido blog article. O'Keyla Cooper has more. 

O'KEYLA COOPER:   

ASTHO has released a new blog article on the critical battle against opioids in 2024. Focusing on pregnant persons struggling with substance use disorder. This issue is linked to higher risk for pregnant individuals, including maternal mortality. New policies extend postpartum services to offer comprehensive care for up to one year after childbirth, but gaps in parity enforcement persist, read the full article by clicking the link in the show notes.  

JOHNSON:   

Before we go a reminder also to follow this newscast on your podcast player and connect with ASTHO on social media. We're on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.  

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