State Health Policy Leadership

In the spring of 2021, my favorite T-shirt to wear on the soccer sidelines sported an image of Dolly Parton singing “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vacceeeeeene” to the tune of “Jolene.” Parton herself sang the rewritten lyrics repeatedly urging Tennesseans to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. It prompted countless conversations about how the vaccine was made, where people could get it, and how safe it was. As a state public health official, my colleagues and I were rejoicing at how quickly the Trump administration had indeed delivered on a several vaccine options less than a year into the pandemic. More

Developing Sufficient Rates. As of January 2024, there was significant variation in Medicaid payment rates for CHW/P/CHR services covered by… More

1. (Definition) A community health worker, promotore, and community health representative (CHW/P/CHR) is a frontline public health worker who is… More

Community health workers, promotores, and community health representatives have historically relied on a patchwork of grants for funding, but more than half of state Medicaid programs have now implemented some form of CHW/P/CHR coverage and payment policy. This toolkit provides model language for state Medicaid leaders and CHW/P/CHR advocates to use as they develop State Plan Amendments and accompanying guidance documents to establish coverage and payment for CHW/P/CHR services. More

The first time Utah state Rep. Steve Eliason was asked what he was going to do about a rash of youth suicides in his suburban Salt Lake County… More

Some payers are pursuing strategies beyond traditional health care systems by focusing on public benefit programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). However, there is an intuitive but underutilized partner for payers seeking to increase SNAP and WIC uptake among their members: grocery stores. More

The closures of rural hospitals and obstetric services has created an urgent need for innovative approaches to maintaining high-quality obstetrics… More

The Milbank Memorial Fund is committed to the leadership development, nonpartisanship, and the depolarization efforts needed to bring all parties to… More