The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced that more than half of all states have expanded access to 12 months of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage after pregnancy. Georgia and Pennsylvania are the 25th and 26th states to be approved for the extended coverage, made possible by provisions in the American Rescue Plan (ARP), signed into law by President Biden in March of 2021. This announcement marks critical progress in the implementation of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Maternal Health Blueprint, a comprehensive strategy aimed at improving maternal health, particularly in underserved communities.

As a result of this announcement, up to an additional 57,000 people in Georgia and Pennsylvania will now be eligible for Medicaid or CHIP for a full year after pregnancy. In total, an estimated 418,000 Americans across 26 states and the District of Columbia now have expanded access to postpartum coverage as a result of the ARP. If all states adopted this option, as many as a total of 720,000 people across the United States would be guaranteed Medicaid and CHIP coverage for 12 months after pregnancy.

The Biden-Harris Administration has made expanding access to high-quality, affordable health care a top priority – and because of the ARP and other Administration efforts, more people than ever before have health insurance coverage. Extending Medicaid and CHIP postpartum coverage is an important part of these efforts, and is a critical component of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Maternal Health Blueprint, which Vice President Harris announced on June 24, 2022.

Click here to read the full press release.

 The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) released a new report that responds to increased interest in in-home and community-based care options. PACE serves over 60,000 Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in 32 states.

 HRSA’s Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) released a new nursing workforce dashboard. Users can access data from the latest National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) through multiple visualizations that can be customized by nurse type, status, and area, all while experiencing native 508 compliance and accessibility in an intuitive, user-friendly dashboard.

New from the Rural Health Information Hub, this resource developed in collaboration with the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis with funding from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy contains information and resources that emphasize developing, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining successful rural health equity programs.

  In final changes to its payment program for acute care and critical access hospitals in 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) included policies to advance nationwide health information exchange, also known as interoperability of electronic health records.  Reporting measures included in the 2023 Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program require hospitals to use certified health IT to capture and share public data – e.g., immunization reporting, syndromic surveillance, reportable lab tests and results, case reporting – that support nationwide early warning of emerging outbreaks and threats, faster public health response, and greater visibility into immunization uptake which, in turn, can inform tailored vaccine distribution strategies.

The Rural and Minority Health Research Center surveyed Rural Health Clinics (RHC) to examine how practitioners are involved in their patient’s cancer treatment and survivorship decisions. Among the findings: more than a third of RHC practitioners were involved in primary decision-making about treatment; and more than 90 percent were involved in ongoing care for survivors, such as smoking cessation and treatment for depression/anxiety.

Last year, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) launched a resource meant to help local health departments (LHD) prevent or mitigate potentially traumatic events, known as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).  The Suicide, Overdose, and Adverse Childhood Experiences Prevention Capacity Assessment Tool (SPACECAT) allows LHDs to make an internal assessment of their capacity to address and prevent a still-growing public health issue.  After the assessment, the SPACECAT Toolkit provides online information and guidance for strengthening local efforts.  Since its launch in October 2021, NACCHO has collected data from more than 100 LHDs who completed the assessment tool.  This week, the organization released a report on what they learned from small (serving 50,000 people or less), medium (serving 50,000-499,999 people), and large (serving 500,000 or more people) local health departments.