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Melissa Magstadt, secretary of health in the South Dakota Department of Health, tells us how the state is using a recently awarded maternal health innovation grant; Maggie Davis, ASTHO director of State Health Policy, previews legislative trends for...
Melissa Magstadt, secretary of health in the South Dakota Department of Health, tells us how the state is using a recently awarded maternal health innovation grant; Maggie Davis, ASTHO director of State Health Policy, previews legislative trends for the upcoming year; and a recent Public Health Review episode explores how cloud technology, open-source tools, and data standards transform public health data systems.
ASTHO Blog Article: Likely Public Health Legislative Trends for 2025
ASTHO Podcast Episode: Improving Public Health by Modernizing Data Exchange
JANSON SILVERS:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, December 16, 2024. I'm Jansen Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
MELISSA MAGSTADT:
We're taking that maternal mortality rate very personally and considering it one of our top priorities, and appreciate these grants that come forward that help us accomplish the mission.
SILVERS:
The South Dakota Department of Health was recently awarded a maternal health innovation grant. Melissa Magstadt is the Secretary of Health for the South Dakota Department of Health, and says more than 50% of people in South Dakota are in maternal healthcare deserts, which makes working in partnership that much more important.
MAGSTADT:
When you get into those rural and frontier areas, that's when these partnerships and working together as healthcare systems, as universities, as public health professionals becomes even more critical, because no one can do it on their own. Resources are limited for everyone.
SILVERS:
One of the key initiatives of the grant is to expand the state's capacity to analyze maternal morbidity and mortality data to get the real story.
MAGSTADT:
That data alone has let us know that we do not lose our mothers, basically, in the delivery of a child, we lose them in that year afterwards; from substance use, motor vehicle accidents related to substance use, and suicide. So, for South Dakota data, that means that our area of focus needs to be in those three areas.
SILVERS:
It has also allowed the state to create a new statewide maternal health task force, so that teams are working together, as opposed to in silos.
MAGSTADT:
It doesn't happen by happenstance, and that's kind of how we've done it before. We've done it in these siloed, you know, 'wishing everyone well' to do your really great work individually, but now we need to really organize and put-together so that we can all do the work together.
SILVERS:
A news release about South Dakota's new grant is in the show notes. Click the link to learn more.
ASTHO's working to make sure you are prepared for 2025 with the Legislative Prospectus Series, and today there's a new online resource from the State Health Policy Team. ASTHO's Maggie Davis says data modernization and privacy issues are starting to gain some real traction.
MAGGIE DAVIS:
This year, we've really started to see legislatures start to adopt some new frameworks, including the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement,known as TEFCA. For example, Nevada's legislature enacted a bill in 2023 requiring the health department to issue new regulations governing health information exchanges.
SILVERS:
Youth mental health is also an expected priority next year.
DAVIS:
There's been a lot of reported challenges of youth mental health in recent years, and one kind of suspected contributor to that has been that youth use of social media. So, we have seen several states propose legislation to really, kind of, put guardrails in place around youth use of social media.
SILVERS:
We have already seen some states working to get ahead of public health issues before their legislative sessions.
DAVIS:
For example, the state of Texas has its sessions starting in January, and they have already pre-filed over 1,200 bills, and some of the topics are included in our Legislative Prospectus Series, including some around immunization policies and also their maternal mortality review committees.
SILVERS:
Read more about what to expect in the upcoming year in the ASTHO blog article. It's online now, just click the link in the show notes.
Also, ASTHO has a resource on data modernization out right now. O'Keyla Cooper explains.
O'KEYLA COOPER:
A Public Health Review episode titled, Improving Public Health by Modernizing Data Exchange explores how cloud technology, open source tools, and data standards transform public health data systems. Tune in to gain insights on workforce, policy, and funding that support data modernization and improve outcomes. Find the full episode via the link in the show notes.
SILVERS:
Finally, don't miss a thing when you sign up for ASTHO's Public Health Weekly newsletter. The link to sign up is in the show notes.
That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Jansen Silvers. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
