720: Poll Reveals Trust-Building Opportunities, Congress Preps for Recess

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, August 2, 2024. I am Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

GILLIAN STEELFISHER: 

None of the 10 issues that we asked about were deemed a top priority by more than half the public.

S. JOHNSON:

A new national poll surveyed more than 1,000 people about their public health priorities. Dr. Gillian SteelFisher directs the Harvard Opinion Research Program at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She says some issues fared better than others, offering leaders the chance to build trust where most everyone agrees.

STEELFISHER: 

The issues that were deemed priorities by the greatest number of people were preventing chronic illness, preventing and addressing mental illness, reducing mortality, and preventing and addressing opioid and other substance addiction.

S. JOHNSON:

She says issues with less consensus may take more work.

STEELFISHER: 

And those included controlling COVID, controlling the spread of infectious illnesses other than COVID, addressing racial and ethnic disparities, and preventing gun injuries.

S. JOHNSON:

SteelFisher hopes the findings inspire ASTHO members as they seek to restore public confidence in their work.

STEELFISHER: 

This study reminds us of the places where we have consensus. Where there's opportunity to build bridges, and these are places where we can build a foundation that we can help ensure the entire public is protected with public health. And making those partnerships is really the key.

S. JOHNSON:

You can review the study using the link in the show notes.

Members of Congress are on their way home for the August recess, but not before taking care of some last minute business. Robert Johnson talks about it with ASTHO's Jeffrey Ekoma in this week's View from Washington, DC report.

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

Jeffrey, it's good to have you here on the newscast. As always, Happy Friday.

JEFFREY EKOMA: 

Happy Friday to you also.

R. JOHNSON:

Everything going well for you? Is the weekend looking good?

EKOMA: 

I'm looking forward to a great weekend. How about yourself?

R. JOHNSON:

It's going to be great. You know what else is going to be nice is it'll be a little bit quieter around Washington, D.C. in the next few weeks with Congress heading out on its month long August recess. What do ASTHO members need to know about the work they're doing before they head out of town?

EKOMA:  

Yeah, the House is on recess now. They actually begin their recess a week earlier at the end of last week. The Senate is charging along with approving appropriation bills through the full appropriations committee. Earlier this week, the committee approved FY25 Labor HHS bill. And we're also sending out legislative alert related to the bill. Now, both the House and Senate, like you mentioned, are expected to be on recess until early September. When they return, there are lots of items on their to do list. One, will be finalizing a pass an appropriation bill, or a continuing resolution of fund the government past September 30th. It's all things that we'll be tracking very closely through August and also through September as well.

R. JOHNSON:

Normally, you look forward to a little bit of quiet time when Congress is out. But as you rush toward that recess, ASTHO has had a little bit of homework, at least with one committee.

EKOMA: 

Yes. Our team has been incredibly busy in doing a lot of really great work last couple of weeks. One, is representatives Diana DeGette and Dr. Larry Bucshon sent out an RFI related to the next iteration of the 21st Century Cures Act, which has had a really significant impact on our healthcare systems capacity to deliver treatments and cures to patients. Now, previous versions of the bill have largely focused on research, the drug approval process, mental health, and substance abuse research and treatment. Our recommendations to committee for the next iteration of the bill include implementing a vaccines for adults program, which has been included in the President's budget for the last couple of years, Creating a public health infrastructure fund, via an account outside of the discretionary caps, or a mandatory funding sort of approval process to provide sustained, predictable, and increase investments for state and territorial health departments. Another recommendation is eliminating Hepatitis C, which impacts more than 2 million people in our country. And last but not least, addressing drug shortages, which is jeopardizing the progress that we've made toward public health threats, such as Syphilis and other childhood illnesses. You know, we really look forward to working with the committee as they sort of put together what the next bill will look like.

R. JOHNSON:

There always seems to be a lot of work going on whenever we talk about Capitol Hill.

EKOMA: 

Absolutely. And we truly do love the work that we do.

R. JOHNSON:

Jeffrey, I hope that you get a little bit of time off while Congress is held.

EKOMA: 

Absolutely no rest on the government affairs team. We are charging along and doing the great work that our members asked us to do.

R. JOHNSON:

Well, that works too. We'll look forward to hearing from you or from Carolyn Mullen next time. Until then, I hope you have a great weekend.

EKOMA: 

You too and talk soon.

S. JOHNSON:

Also today, ASTHO members are thinking about the North Star Architecture Framework. A better way to share data across agencies. This is Tabatha Offutt-Powell, ASTHO's vice president of public health data modernization and informatics.

TABATHA OFFUTT-POWELL: 

It helps us to be able to share data across public health and our public health partners, like laboratories and health care. And the goal is that it's done in a timely and efficient way, so we can respond quickly to our public health priority areas, our communities.

S. JOHNSON:

The framework is a combination of tools, processes and strategies that together represent an evolving approach to data. Offutt-Powell says there's never been anything like it.

OFFUTT-POWELL: 

And so we've had initiatives to some degree, but not a really unified initiative that really takes us to a place where we can have shared resources or shared services. Where we can leverage the work that the federal partners are doing, like CDC.

S. JOHNSON:

Hear more about the North Star Architecture Framework in a new episode of the Public Health Review podcast, now in its seventh year on the air. There's a link to the conversation in the show notes.

Finally this morning, readiness and response demands a strong strategic planning effort. O'keyla Cooper has more.

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

ASTHO's latest blog article emphasizes the importance of strategic planning and public health. It highlights the synergies and differences between the CDC Office of Readiness and Response strategic plan, the ASTHO strategic plan, and the ASTHO environmental scan, stressing the need for alignment to address emerging health threats. You can read the full article by clicking the link in the show notes.

S. 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.