In mid-April, Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Governor John Fetterman announced the creation of a COVID-19 Response Task Force for Health Disparity to help communicate issues about how the pandemic is affecting the state’s minority and marginalized populations. After months of weekly meetings and outreach from task force members to marginalized community members, the task force completed its report and presented it to the governor earlier this week. The report includes six recommendations focused on these policy topics related to health disparity, ranked in order of urgency: housing, criminal justice, food insecurity, health disparity, education and economic opportunities. According to the report, each area either directly or indirectly affects the health of Pennsylvanians and must be addressed to appropriately remove the disparities that have existed for generations and have only been exacerbated by the pandemic. The work of the task force will help inform an internal steering committee on dismantling racism that Gov. Wolf established recently. Read the Governor’s press release.
Pennsylvania Set to Launch Contact Tracing App
This week, the commonwealth announced plans to launch a coronavirus exposure-notification app in early Sept. to more quickly break chains of transmission by using the new technology to notify people who may have been exposed. The state has a $1.9 million contract, using federal grant dollars, to deploy and maintain the app with software developer NearForm Ltd, the Ireland-based company whose app there has been downloaded by more than one-fourth of that country’s residents. The app is based on smartphone technology developed by Apple and Google, and will undergo a pilot project next week using state government employees and public health students, staff and faculty. In Sept., you can find the COVID Alert PA app for free to download in the Google Play store or Apple App store. This app is voluntary, but the more Pennsylvanians age 18 and older who adopt the app, the more successful efforts can be. The app does not enable any location services and is designed to be completely anonymous.
NACCHO National Profile of Local Health Departments
The National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO) received funding support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to profile approximately 2,800 local health departments (LHDs) across the country. Each LHD is coded as urban or rural based on the population it serves. Find more information here.
NIHB: Resources for Adverse Childhood Experiences in Indian Country
The National Indian Health Board (NIHB) provides information, tools, and resources to help tribal communities learn about and respond to these ordeals. The resource hub was created in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SAMHSA Training and Technical Assistance Related to COVID-19
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) created this list of resources, tools, and trainings.
Catch-Up to Get Ahead on Childhood Immunizations
In support of National Immunization Awareness Month, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services recently launched Catch-Up to Get Ahead: A National Immunization Initiative for Children. This campaign aims to increase childhood immunization rates in the wake of significant declines due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Use messages and graphics in the Catch-Up to Get Ahead Toolkit to help spread awareness to parents and caregivers.
Federal Resources to Improve Living at Home in Rural Areas
On Wednesday, three federal departments – the Departments of Health & Human Services, Agriculture, and Housing and Urban Development –released a joint informational bulletin summarizing the federal resources available to improve home safety for older adults and people with disabilities in rural areas. It describes how states can improve accessibility of home environments through Medicaid, programs that can facilitate home repair and modification, initiatives to reduce and prevent falls, resources to support aging in place, and loan opportunities for mortgages and housing repair.
Training Opportunity–Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP)
The Pennsylvania Department of Health has released updated curriculum on how to effectively use the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). Since spring 2018, Quality Insights has been on-site at more than 70 hospitals and clinics across Pennsylvania presenting these live sessions. Originally Quality Insights Quality Innovation Network was tasked with providing education to the top 25 counties with high overdose rates, but now they are providing this grant-funded curriculum to all counties in Pennsylvania.
Attached is:
- An introductory letter from the Department of Health outlining the specifics for the education* to be offered through June 2021.
*The education is provided at no cost to you and CME is available for provider participation.
- A description of each area of focus—called “modules”—for you to review. More detailed information can be located here.
Attachments:
CMS Update on FDA Opioid Efforts
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) wants to make you aware of a recent Drug Safety Communication from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA announced it now requires labeling for opioid pain medicine and medicine to treat OUD be updated to recommend that as a routine part of prescribing these medicines, health care professionals should discuss the availability of the overdose reversal drug naloxone with patients and caregivers, both when beginning and renewing treatment.
Additionally, the labeling changes recommend that health care professionals consider prescribing naloxone to patients who are prescribed opioid pain medicines and who are at increased risk of opioid overdose, including those who are also taking benzodiazepines or other medicines that depress the central nervous system; those who have a history of OUD; and those who have experienced a prior opioid overdose. A naloxone prescription should also be considered for patients prescribed opioids who have household members, including children, or other close contacts at risk for accidental ingestion or opioid overdose.
NIOSH Webpage Highlights CDC Guidance for Chemical Disinfectants
A new NIOSH webpage, Hazard Communication for Disinfectants Used Against Viruses, provides information on health hazards that could be caused by cleaning products and disinfectants. Also included are recommendations for barriers and respiratory protection that workers can use to protect themselves from these hazards.