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Dr. Jerome Larkin, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health and an ASTHO Member, recaps a White House roundtable meeting that focused on sepsis; Meghan Mead, deputy director in the Mid-States Region at the Network for Public Health Law, tells...
Dr. Jerome Larkin, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health and an ASTHO Member, recaps a White House roundtable meeting that focused on sepsis; Meghan Mead, deputy director in the Mid-States Region at the Network for Public Health Law, tells us about a webinar today at 3 p.m. ET that is about AI and public health; an ASTHO report dives into one possible solution to health disparities in our nation; an ASTHO resource focuses on legislative trends dealing with the containment and prevention of infectious diseases; and Dr. Victor Ramos is the secretary of health for the Puerto Rico Department of Health and ASTHO’s newest member.
Report to Congress: An Assessment of Sepsis in the United States and its Burden on Hospital Care
The Network for Public Health Law Webinar: AI and Public Health – Opportunities and Challenges
ASTHO Report: Including Island Areas in Federal Public Health Datasets
ASTHO Web Page: Containing and Preventing the Spread of Infectious Disease
ASTHO Web Page: Victor Ramos, MD
JANSON SILVERS:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Thursday, January 23, 2025 .I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
JEROME LARKIN:
Congress charged that the agency conduct a comprehensive set of studies that calculate the morbidity, readmission, and mortality related to sepsis.
SILVERS:
A recent White House roundtable convened by the Office of Science and Technology Policy focused on recent sepsis trends and how to make progress moving forward. Dr. Jerome Larkin is the director of the Rhode Island Department of Health and an ASTHO member. He attended the meeting and says prior to COVID, we were making real progress.
LARKIN:
Mortality-related sepsis actually started to decrease from about 148 per 1000 episodes to about 116, so, basically about a 15% mortality rate to about 12%, so, that was good news. Then COVID happens, and actually there were significant increases in mortality.
SILVERS:
Rhode Island has passed legislation to improve mortality and morbidity related to sepsis.
LARKIN:
What this does is it actually mandates that hospitals have protocols, and that they have collection of data, and that the data collection is focused on quality measures and other, you know, outcomes. And so, that then is fed back to the hospitals and they look at sort of, you know, what are they doing that might need improvement, or what are they doing that- that's actually leading to success, and the law is working. For Rhode Island, we were actually one of only two states that actually saw decreases in the cost of sepsis: from 2019 to 2021 we had the lowest percentage of in-patient stage related to sepsis.
SILVERS:
You can read a full report on the assessment of sepsis in the U.S. by clicking the link in the show notes.
Today, the Network for Public Health Law is hosting a webinar at 3 p.m. ET on AI, public health opportunities, and challenges. Meghan Mead is with the Network for Public Health Law.
MEGHAN MEAD:
So, we're hoping that this is the beginning of resources we can offer health departments and public health practitioners as AI is increasingly deployed in this field.
SILVERS:
The webinar could help prepare you for what's to come.
MEAD:
We expect that the audience will come away with a basic understanding of AI and its potential risks, benefits, and applications in public health; that the audience will learn how state and territorial and local health departments are using AI to advance public health and support their workforce.
SILVERS:
The webinar will also focus on advancing AI frameworks while making sure AI is used correctly.
MEAD:
Privacy concerns are paramount. We want to make sure we're protecting people's information and using AI in a way that's not creating or risking inappropriate disclosures.
JANSON SILVERS:
The webinar is this afternoon, January 23 at 3 p.m. ET. You can sign up to attend by using the link in the show notes.
Also, an ASTHO report dives into one possible solution to health disparities in our nation. O'Keyla Cooper has more.
O'KEYLA COOPER:
Public health data sets guide effective policy-making, yet U.S. island areas, like Puerto Rico and Guam, are often underrepresented, hiding critical health disparities. ASTHO's Island Areas Workgroup works to address these challenges with this report, guiding efforts to improve Island representation. Click the link in the show notes to download the resource.
SILVERS:
And ASTHO has many resources on how to contain and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. One such resource focuses on the legislative trends in this arena. Use the link in the show notes to learn more today.
Finally, this morning, ASTHO would like to extend a warm welcome to a new member. Dr. Victor Ramos is the Secretary of Health for the Puerto Rico Department of Health. He has more than 20 years of experience in hospital pediatrics. Take a minute to read Dr. Ramos' bio. There's a link in the show notes.
That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
