Each day, families struggle with food security and the ability to provide their children with healthy meals that fuel their minds and bodies. Lack of nutrient-rich food impacts child development, overall health outcomes, mental and behavioral health and academic achievement, performance, and participation. Free school breakfast has been one initiative provided to Pennsylvania school-aged children to combat child hunger and ensure students succeed.

For the first time, all Pennsylvania public school students heading back to school this month will be eligible to receive a free breakfast regardless of income. The 2023-24 budget includes a $46.5 million increase to provide universal free breakfast to Pennsylvania’s 1.7 million public school students.

Our fact sheet shows the benefits of free school breakfast, including:

• Increasing access to nutritious meals and building healthy eating habits.
• Improving academic performance, including concentration, memory, comprehension, and learning, while reducing hunger-related behavioral problems.
• Reducing the stigma associated with students who access free or reduced meals compared to their peers.

The state budget also expands free lunch to 22,000 eligible students for reduced-price lunch. While universal free breakfast and expanded free lunch are a great first step for Pennsylvania students, PPC advocates for expanding free lunch to all students because no child should go hungry, and no parent should worry about feeding their child.

Since 2013, Navigators have helped Americans understand their health insurance options and facilitated their enrollment in health insurance coverage through the Federally-facilitated Marketplace (FFM). As trusted community partners, their mission focuses on assisting the uninsured and other underserved communities.

On August 25, 2023, CMS awarded $98.6 million in Navigator cooperative agreement awards to 57 returning organizations who will continue serving as Navigator awardees in states with a FFM. These awards support the work of organizations that offer assistance to consumers navigating, shopping for, and enrolling in health insurance coverage for plan year 2024. At this link are the 57 organizations receiving 2023-2024 CMS Navigator cooperative agreement awards for the FFM(s) they have received cooperative agreements to serve: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2023-2024-navigator-awardee-summaries.pdf. All 29 FFM states for PY 2024 have at least one Navigator awardee organization.

Additionally this week, CMS published the annual guidance on training for navigators, CMS Enrollment Assistance Bulletin, 2023-01: Guidance Regarding Training, Certification, and Recertification for Navigators and Certified Application Counselors in Federally-facilitated Exchanges.  This bulletin provides annual guidance on the training, certification, and recertification requirements and procedures for Navigators, certified application counselors (CACs), and CAC designated organizations (CDOs) in the Federally-facilitated Marketplaces (FFMs). You can access the bulletin at:  https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2023-cms-assister-bulletin-final-508.pdf.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is pleased to announce that Diane M. Hall, PhD, MSEd, has been selected to serve as the permanent director of the CDC Office of Rural Health. She has served as the Office’s acting director since March of this year. As director, Dr. Hall will continue to lead and coordinate CDC’s rural health work and strategy to strengthen the delivery of rural public health services across the U.S.

Prior to coming to the Office of Rural Health, located in CDC’s Public Health Infrastructure Center, Dr. Hall served in CDC’s Office of the Associate Director for Policy and Strategy, Office of the Director, as CDC’s rural health lead, led the office’s Strategic Engagement and Capacity Building work, and oversaw training activities focused on using policy to improve the population’s health. As a recognized expert in knowledge synthesis and translation, she led the development of the office’s policy portal, the Policy Analysis and Research Information System (POLARIS).

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Hall held several leaderships positions within CDC’s response. She also held various positions in CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention where she worked on research related to the prevention of teen dating violence, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and youth violence. Prior to coming to CDC, she held an academic appointment at the University of Pennsylvania, serving as the lead coordinator for a master’s program in psychology.

Dr. Hall earned her B.A. in Psychology from Hollins College (now Hollins University), and obtained her MSEd in psychological services and PhD in school, community, and child clinical psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Hall and the CDC Office of Rural Health look forward to strengthening our relationships with all who have an interest in improving the health and well-being of rural America!

The Pennsylvania Department of State is pleased to announce that Pennsylvania will take a big step by partially implementing the interstate Nurse Licensure Compact, an agreement among 41 states and U.S. territories and administered by National Council for State Boards of Nursing, that recognizes the practicing privileges for nurses licensed under the compact.

Starting Sept. 5, 2023, registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) who hold multistate licenses through the compact will be permitted to practice in the commonwealth without obtaining a Pennsylvania license. This step should help ease Pennsylvania’s severe nursing shortage, alleviate burdens on overworked nursing staffs, make conditions safer for both patients and healthcare workers, and increase patients’ access to in-person and telehealth care.

A November 2022 industry survey by The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania showed vacancy rates of 30% for RNs providing direct care, and it cited a U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration report projecting that, by 2030, demand for LPNs in Pennsylvania will exceed the number of available workers by 27.8%.

The Department of State continues to work diligently with its state and federal partners to satisfy the preconditions necessary to allow the State Board of Nursing to issue multistate licenses to Pennsylvania nurses who want to be able to practice in compact member states.

Among the preconditions we must meet is being able to certify to other compact states that Pennsylvania’s State Board of Nursing has performed an FBI criminal background check on Pennsylvania applicants, a process that requires FBI authorization. The Department of State is actively seeking this authorization and is awaiting a response.

Meanwhile, we are ensuring that Pennsylvania meets other technical and regulatory requirements so that the commonwealth can fully implement the compact as quickly as possible once we receive FBI and statutory approval to access the FBI’s criminal background database.

We will keep you informed of our progress in achieving this crucial second step toward full implementation of the compact.

For answers to frequently asked questions about how the compact affects in-state and out-of-state nurses, as well as Pennsylvania patients, visit the State Board of Nursing’s webpage.

To learn more about the compact, visit nursecompact.com or email nursecompact@ncsbn.org.

This week, the Innovation Center at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a Request for Applications detailing policies and requirements for the Making Care Primary Model. Interested applicants may apply later this month when the Application Portal opens. The model will launch on July 1, 2024, in eight states: Colorado, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Washington, and will operate over a ten-year period.  This model aims to strengthen coordination between patients’ primary care clinicians, specialists, social service providers, and behavioral health clinicians, to drive improved chronic disease prevention, fewer emergency room visits, and better health outcomes.  While Rural Health Clinics are not eligible, other rural primary care providers (including Federally Qualified Health Centers) may seek to participate.