971: Medicaid & Public Health Team Up, Respiratory Virus Season

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, August 18, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

JOSEPH KANTER: 

This committee is a great partnership between us at ASTHO and our colleagues at NAMD, and it aims to unite governmental leaders in the public health and the Medicaid space so that we can break down silos and learn better ways to collaborate with each other and work in service of population health.

SILVERS: 

ASTHO CEO Dr. Joseph Kanter discusses a new partnership between ASTHO and the National Association of Medicaid Directors. Kate McEvoy with NAMD outlines the goal of the National Committee on Sustainable Medicaid and Public Health Partnerships.

KATE MCEVOY: 

We are, with this effort, looking to routinize those types of connections, really make it part of the fabric of everyday state operations, that there are mutual goals associated with intersecting Medicaid and public health, identification of opportunities to, kind of, use the learning and the piloting of concepts in public health and to embed them in Medicaid with a sustainable financing mechanism.

SILVERS: 

Kanter says many in public health don't fully understand the entire body of work that their Medicaid colleagues undertake. He hopes this committee will change that.

KANTER: 

They have deeply, well-thought-out population health strategies and oftentimes are working with third-party entities or insurance companies to help further their mission and advance the help of the very vulnerable populations that they serve. These are goals that are well aligned with what we do in public health.

SILVERS: 

McEvoy says now is an important time to work together.

MCEVOY: 

In this current environment where we are responding and interpreting newly issuing policy and legislation, both from the administration and Congress, it does give us opportunities to be very intentional about identifying opportunities, not only to lead up to the federal government in terms of those opportunities to collaborate, but also to help our state partners.

SILVERS: 

More information on the committee is online now. Use the link in the show notes to learn more.

Last week, ASTHO welcomed the media to a deskside briefing about the upcoming respiratory virus season. Public health leaders from across the country joined ASTHO leadership to discuss the importance of the next several months. Dr. Manisha Juthani, ASTHO president-elect and commissioner for the Connecticut Department of Public Health, spoke about recent changes to ACIP recommendations.

MANISHA JUTHANI: 

If you look at historically, the recommendations for children, it actually used to be the American Academy of Pediatrics before ACIP took it over, if you look back decades and decades ago, and so, that is not unusual in many ways for AAP to weigh in on children's vaccination.

SILVERS: 

ASTHO member, Dr. Ayanna Bennett, adds that she still recommends vaccination and that official guidance is not changing in most jurisdictions.

AYANNA BENNETT: 

This is the time right now to be starting to make your appointment. Most people that that requires a few weeks or at least a little bit of lead time. So yes, I would, but not necessarily because things are changing. Because this is the time of year we are normally telling you to go figure out where you're going to get your flu shot, where you're going to get your COVID shot.

SILVERS: 

ASTHO president, Dr. Scott Harris of Alabama says the best way to overcome vaccine hesitancy is through one-on-one conversations between providers and patients.

SCOTT HARRIS: 

We're doing our very best to try to educate those who are leading those conversations, not only giving them evidence about the science behind vaccination, but also reminding them the importance of being good listeners.

SILVERS: 

If you missed the briefing, don't worry. You can watch the full conversation online now by clicking on the link in the show notes.

Also, a new ASTHO report analyzes recent Medicaid data to determine causes of commercial tobacco use in Washington State. Although tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disability and death in the U.S., tobacco control programs often struggle to identify those that most need intervention. For more information, head to the link in the show notes to access the full report.

Finally, on Tuesday, August 26, ASTHO will host a webinar with the PHIG National Partners to introduce Wave 2 of the Public Health Data Modernization Implementation Center program. Register for the event to learn more about the vision for Wave 2 and how it fits in with CDC's data modernization strategy. We have 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.