Improving population health and health equity by connecting leaders with experience and sound evidence

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Improving population health and health equity by connecting leaders with experience and sound evidence

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The Latest from The Milbank Memorial Fund

  1. “Reforming” Medicaid: What Is the Problem, Exactly? 

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  2. Legislator Briefing on Funding Cuts to State and Local Public Health: Virtual Convening of the Milbank State Leadership Network

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  3. Praying for the Dam to Hold 

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  4. Engaging Employers in Addressing Health Care Affordability 

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  5. Running the Ground Game: Local Public Health in a Time of Outbreaks and Vaccine Hesitancy 

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  6. Creating a Physician Assistant Workforce That Represents All Communities  

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Latest Milbank Quarterly Issue Released:  March 2025

  1. Early View Original Scholarship

    Scaling an Evidence-Based Community Health Worker Program with Fidelity: Results and Lessons Learned

    By:  Molly Knowles Aditi Vasan Ziwei Pan Judith A. Long Shreya Kangovi

    Context: Community health worker (CHW) programs represent a key strategy for addressing social and structural drivers of health and have the… More

  2. Early View Original Scholarship

    Medicaid Expansion Among Nonelderly Adults and Cardiovascular Disease: Efficiency Vs. Equity

    By:  Luke E. Barry Sanjay Basu May Wang Roch A. Nianogo

    Context: Evidence suggests Medicaid expansion has improved cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes, especially among those of lower socioeconomic… More

  3. Early View Perspective

    The Long Arc of Substance Use Policy Innovation in Medicaid: Looking Back, Looking Forward

    By:  Brendan Saloner

    This Perspective examines the role of Medicaid in the innovation of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. In 2023, an estimated 49 million Americans met criteria for an SUD and more than 100,000 people died of a drug overdose. Compared with the general population, people with SUD experience worse self-rated health, a higher burden of other chronic diseases, and more hospital care. More

  4. From the Editor

    In the March 2025 Issue of the Quarterly: Population Health Imperiled

    By:  Alan B. Cohen

    This issue of the Quarterly opens with a thoughtful Perspective on equity in evidence-informed decision making, and is followed by original scholarship on an array of policy topics, including: insurance to improve patient access to cell and gene therapy; essential medicines in the World Health Organization’s Model Lists; access to mental health treatment; principles for embedding health equity language in policy research and practice; comprehensiveness in primary care; and whole person health assessments. More

  5. Original Scholarship

    The Political Economy of the World Health Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines

    By:  Kristina Jenei

    The World Health Organization (WHO) Model Lists of Essential Medicines (EML) aims to help countries select medicines based on the priority needs of their populations. However, rapid evolution within the pharmaceutical sector toward complex, high-priced medicines has challenged WHO decision making, leading to inconsistent decisions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how political factors impact the WHO EML. More

  6. Perspective

    Centering Equity in Evidence-Informed Decision Making: Theoretical and Practical Considerations

    By:  Bomi Kim Hirsch Kiersten Frobom Gillian Giglierano Michael C. Stevenson Marjory L. Givens

    Over the past 50 years, population health researchers have made significant progress in clarifying the empirical and theoretical relationships between socioeconomic conditions and health disparities particularly for social constructs such as race and ethnicity.  More

The Milbank Quarterly Opinion

Data Democracy in Crisis: How Changing Federal Data Reshapes Research and Representation

Recent political events have data custodians and users across the country asking an important question—if the federal government is backing away from its historical role as a leader in advancing data quality and data democracy, what does it mean for the future of representation and evidence-based policy development?   More

Public Awareness of Threats to Public Health and Science in March 2025

Our survey found that a high proportion of the American public (almost 80%) had heard about the firing of federal scientists and health workers, and a substantial number had heard of federal cuts to health research and treatment abroad (73.7%), to indirect costs (73.3%), and to specific research grants (70.2%).  More

The Perfect Storm: Measles Resurgence in an Era of Vaccine Disinformation and the Dismantling of Public Health

In 2024, we warned about the potential for measles resurgence in the United States, due to declining vaccination rates and growing religious and…  More

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State Networks and Leadership Programs

  • Milbank State Leadership Network

    The Milbank State Leadership Network is a bipartisan group of state health policy leaders from both the executive and legislative branches.

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  • Emerging Leaders Program

    The Emerging Leaders Program seeks to develop practical, hands-on leadership skills in future senior executive and legislative officials.

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  • Milbank Fellows Program

    The Milbank Fellows Program is a leadership program for executive branch and senior legislative state government leaders committed to improving population health.

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