The Urban Institute’s new State of the Safety Net data tool allows users to explore national- and state-level estimates of eligibility and participation across major safety net programs—including SNAP, WIC, and TANF—to better understand who qualifies, who receives benefits, and where gaps remain.
A new report using national survey data examines the experiences of Black families with young children, focusing on economic stability, health, child care access, and community well-being. It highlights the challenges many families face related to financial hardship and access to services, as well as the strengths they draw on through family connections, community networks, and cultural traditions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office of Rural Health has released new resources designed for public health professionals and others working with data. The Rural Health Science Tip Sheets provide guidance and examples for selecting and applying rural-urban classification variables, accounting for demographic differences, and strengthening the rigor and relevance of rural data analyses.
These resources can help researchers approach their work with greater confidence and accuracy, leading to improved analytic studies and interpretation of results.
Add the Rural Health Science Tip Sheets to your research and data analysis toolkit. Share these resources with colleagues in your network to help ensure rural communities are accurately reflected in public health data reporting and program decisions.
Better rural health research and analysis start with good data and the right tools to understand it. That is why the CDC Office of Rural Health has developed tip sheets to help you:
Share these tools with your network to foster collaboration, improve accuracy, and strengthen efforts in public health. https://bit.ly/4uihVUS.
For more information about CDC’s ongoing work in rural public health, please visit www.cdc.gov/rural-health, and check our web page regularly for new rural health science tip sheets. For additional support or to explore collaboration opportunities, contact the CDC Office of Rural Health at ruralhealth@cdc.gov.
The Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Education announced that $3 million allocated in the 2025/26 budget will be distributed to more than 750 Pennsylvania school districts, intermediate units, career and technical centers, and brick-and-mortar charter schools to continue providing free period products for their students.
Building on historic, first-time investments of $3 million over each of the past two years, Governor Shapiro’s budget proposal for 2026/27 includes another $3 million to help schools provide free period products for students.
The funding enables schools to provide students with access to period products at no cost, in line with efforts to improve health equity.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is continuing to work with physicians across the Commonwealth to create a series of short social media videos on Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube to provide health care providers’ perspectives on the value of vaccines that are available to prevent diseases.
The Shapiro Administration remains committed to standing with medical experts, to trust science, and to support evidence-based vaccine guidance. The Administration continues to recommend following the vaccine schedule for children developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics to protect Pennsylvania’s children from vaccine-preventable diseases.
For more information on vaccinations in Pennsylvania, visit www.pa.gov/vaccines.
Federal grantees should be aware that the General Services Administration (GSA) has proposed requiring applicants, both when initially registering in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) and during each annual renewal, to agree to three new certifications.
These certifications would affirm that grantees:
GSA’s proposal, “Information Collection; System for Award Management Registration Requirement for Financial Assistance Recipients,” seeks to align longstanding financial assistance representations and certifications in SAM.gov with the Administration’s new policies.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a letter outlining operational considerations for implementing 6-month Medicaid renewals.
States will have two options for updating the process for adult expansion beneficiaries already in a 12-month eligibility period as of January 1, 2027, with renewals scheduled that year.
The House Energy & Commerce Committee has launched an investigation into alleged Medicaid fraud in 10 more states – including Pennsylvania.
The Committee sent Governor Shapiro and Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Arkoosh a letter on Tuesday, March 3. The letter to Pennsylvania cites “In fiscal year 2024, Pennsylvania Medicaid spending totaled over $44 billion ($26.8 billion in federal funding) and covered over 3 million people. Between 2018 and 2025, the state budget for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services increased 58 percent, despite the population only growing 2 percent in that time.”
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) supports different types of health services research projects that advance health services quality in several AHRQ priority areas for research.
Opportunities are ongoing until July 2029.
A new research report is available that explores Methamphetamine Use, Mental Health Comorbidities, and Treatment in Rural and Urban Areas. Among the key findings in this policy brief examining regional differences:
