839: Drug Overdose Death Decline, View from Washington, New ASTHO Member

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, February 7, 2025. I'm Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

HEIDI B. MILLER: 

It has been not only multifaceted, including the entire continuum of someone's interaction with opioids, but also multi-sector.

JOHNSON: 

Dr. Heidi B. Miller is the chief medical officer of the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services. She explains how her state was able to see the first significant decline in drug overdose deaths in nearly a decade.

MILLER: 

We have tried very hard to infuse substance use disorder and opioid use disorder within the context of everything 'health.' This is not something that gets carved out. This is not a topic that should only be treated by sub- sub-specialists, like it was treated decades ago.

JOHNSON: 

Miller says the state has done a lot of work to make naloxone more available.

MILLER: 

And we have a state standing order that has been highly utilized so that anybody who can't afford naloxone and aren't able to get it free, they can go to any pharmacy and use a state standing order, and their insurance is likely to pay for it.

JOHNSON: 

Saving lives from fentanyl is very important to the department, but so is quickly getting someone into treatment.

MILLER: 

Getting them into treatment as soon as possible, 24/7 is key. You know, you're competing against the drug dealers that are available 24/7 and they work weekends. And they work holidays.

JOHNSON: 

A news release about Missouri's progress is available now. You can use the link in the show notes to read it.

This week, the Senate has taken up the confirmation process of HHS Secretary, nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ASTHO's, Jeffrey Ekoma walks us through what's next in this week's View from Washington, D.C. Report.

Hi Jeffrey, it's great to hear from you.

JEFFREY EKOMA: 

Happy Friday. Good to be back.

JOHNSON: 

Let's talk about the nomination for Health and Human Services Secretary. Can you talk about where things stand with that process right now?

EKOMA: 

Mr. Kennedy had hearings before two Senate Committees last week. The first was before the Finance Committee, and the other before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, or HELP Committee. The Senate Finance Committee is the Committee of Jurisdiction tasked with approving his nomination and sending it to the Senate floor for a vote in the Senate Finance Committee. Republicans, for the most part, voiced optimism about Mr. Kennedy's plans and interest in addressing chronic disease and examining our food supply systems, amongst other things. Now, Democrats expressed their deep concern about his history of anti-vaccine rhetoric and possibly sowing mistrust in our public health systems. Similar themes from the finance hearing also emerged in the HELP hearing that happened a day later. Now, earlier in the week, the Senate Finance Committee did advance to- Kennedy's nomination out of the Committee on a party line vote, and a date for consideration on the Senate floor has not been announced, but it does seem likely to be sometime next week. In a 'For' speech, after casting his vote in support of Mr. Kennedy, Senator Cassidy, who was a member of both Committees and notably a chair of the HELP Committee, noted multiple commitments made to him by Mr. Kennedy, such as hosting multiple meetings a month seeking input from Senator Cassidy on hiring decisions at HHS beyond Senate-confirmed positions, working within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems, maintaining CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, and coming before the HELP Committee on a quarterly basis if requested by Senator Cassidy. Amongst other things, it's something that we'll be tracking closely. And I also want to know it seems more likely than not that the Senate will approve Mr. Kennedy's nomination when they go for a full vote.

JOHNSON: 

There's always talk about government funding. Tell us when that expires, and what's happening up on the Hill right now.

EKOMA: 

Yes, there's been a lot of activity on this right now. As a reminder, government funding will expire on March 14. We continue to hear updates that the House and Senate appropriators are meeting and working to reach a top line funding number for FY25 which is important to allocate funding top lines for each of the 12 Appropriations Committees. However, recent activity from the administration centered around a memo that initially sought to pause all federal funding temporarily, but was later rescinded by the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, as well as current court cases that provided temporary relief prohibiting the administration from enforcing the temporary freeze and funding brought forth concerns from Democratic appropriators and is likely to put a strain on current and future negotiations. But as always, it's something that we'll continue to track very closely.

JOHNSON: 

Jeffrey, we know your department in ASTHO is very busy. We'll talk to you soon.

EKOMA: 

Thank you so much.

JOHNSON: 

Also, this morning, ASTHO welcomes a brand new member. Jessica TodorovicH is the acting secretary of health for the Washington State Department of Health. Todorovich has been with the agency since 2012. ASTHO is thrilled to welcome Todorovich and her experience. If you'd like to learn more about our newest member, her bio is linked in the show notes.

Finally, this morning, ASTHO is now taking applications for the Implementing Pharmacist-Prescribed Contraception Learning Community. This Learning Community will provide technical assistance for those implementing PPC programs, along with encouraging cross-sector approaches to contraceptive access. The deadline to apply is March 5.

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