On Thursday, the Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services briefly revisited the IHSS MOE deal reached during the 2017-18 budget negotiations. Will Lightbourne, Director of the California Department of Social Services, provided a concise recap of events surrounding the new MOE provisions, including the Administration’s elimination of the Coordinated Care Initiative…
Read More »The National Association of Counties (NACo) has set April 18 as County Health Day—a day designed to feature the important work counties are doing to improve health. Throughout the day on April 18, NACo will post links and examples of county innovations and accomplishments, as well as health tools and resources available to other jurisdictions….
Read More »This week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that emergency department visits for opioid overdoses increased 30 percent in all parts of the United States from July 2016 to September 2017. Opioids include prescription pain medication, heroin, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl. The Midwest realized the highest increase in opioid overdoses with…
Read More »A recent report published in the journal Tobacco Control shows that after California’s 2016 increase in the minimum tobacco sales age from 18 years old to 21 years old, the percentage of California retailers selling tobacco to minors dropped from 10.3 percent to 5.7 percent. The rates are based on surveys in which minor decoys…
Read More »The 2018 CHEAC Annual Meeting will be held on October 17 – October 19 in Sacramento and will provide local health department leadership and staff throughout the state with networking and learning opportunities. This year’s conference theme is “Celebrating 30 Years of Improving the Health of All Californians” and will feature expanded workshops offered to…
Read More »In what is shaping up to be a busy spring ahead, activity within the California Legislature continues to ramp up as policy and budget committee hearings are being set for the coming weeks. Recall, last week, the CHEAC Legislative Committee met to review the first batch of new bills introduced by the Legislature this year….
Read More »On Monday, the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services convened a hearing predominantly focused on issues related to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). Susan Fanelli, CDPH Assistant Director, provided subcommittee members with a general overview of the department’s budget, highlighting their General Fund budget of $138 million. The budget…
Read More »This week, the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) released an analysis detailing public health funding throughout the country, finding that spending on public health is insufficient and constitutes a crisis. The report examines funding levels at the federal, state, and local levels and provides recommendations to increase funds and improve the public’s health. At the…
Read More »On Thursday, the White House hosted an Opioid Epidemic Summit to discuss efforts of the Trump Administration to address the nationwide opioid epidemic. The summit gathered a handful of Administration officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, individuals who have been impacted by the opioid epidemic, and addiction-…
Read More »The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recently published a report that highlights the importance of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion in increasing insurance coverage among individuals with opioid-use disorders (OUDs). The latest data available from the federal government rebut claims that Medicaid expansion contributed to or exacerbated the nationwide opioid crisis. CBPP…
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