Public Health

Help for rural governments tackling the opioid crisis

The Reaching Rural Initiative helped officials in Harnett County, North Carolina, develop an opioid emergency response plan and a program to direct formerly incarcerated individuals to treatment.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

How a different kind of drug testing can help communities stave off overdoses

Insights from advanced drug-testing services are proving essential for public health officials struggling to contain an evolving crisis.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Study: Gas-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers produce as much pollution as long car trips

A report from the Maryland Department of the Environment report recommends that state and local governments promote the use of electric lawn equipment instead of air polluting tools like leafblowers.

  • By Josh Kurtz, Maryland Matters

New health care grants look to reform how hospitals are paid

The program wants to increase primary care for Medicare and Medicaid recipients while reducing hospital and emergency room visits.

  • By Kery Murakami

How paid sick leave helps cure economic instability

Cities and states are enacting paid leave policies that prevent low-wage workers from choosing between rest and recovery or work and a paycheck.

  • By Molly Bolan

Evolving overdose crisis shakes previously effective treatments

Synthetic drugs are killing more Americans as they render treatment options less effective.

  • By Taylor Sisk, South Carolina Daily Gazette

Sununu’s ‘Recovery Friendly Workplace’ serves as model for new national institute

A new national institute will provide training and resources for companies willing to hire and help people in substance-abuse recovery, and the White House's model legislation will help states create recovery-ready workplaces.

  • By Hadley Barndollar, New Hampshire Bulletin

‘Tripledemic’ dashboards set health agencies up for flu season

COVID, influenza and RSV—oh my! Fall and winter bring an increase in respiratory illnesses, so state health departments are revamping their COVID dashboards for enhanced insights into their communities’ health.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

‘Worse than people can imagine’: Medicaid ‘unwinding’ breeds chaos in states

States have terminated Medicaid coverage for more than 10 million Americans since March, leaving families and individuals scrambling to seek alternative health insurance plans or apply for coverage renewals.

  • By Phil Galewitz, Katheryn Houghton, Brett Kelman and Samantha Liss, KFF Health News

After hottest summer on record, local governments are underreporting heat deaths

Bexar County’s medical examiner blames lack of data for the decision not to list heat as a cause on any summer deaths.

  • By Greg Harman, Deceleration

Why support for local public health leaders is higher than you think

COMMENTARY | Health departments fight for policies that make it easier for all people to live their healthiest lives: safe schools and communities, livable wages, affordable housing and healthy food.

  • By Chrissie Juliano

COVID-19 vaccine mandates have come and mostly gone in the US: Here's why their messy rollout matters for trust in public health

COMMENTARY | Vaccine policies fall on a spectrum, from mandates to recommendations. Deciding what to use and when is not so much a science but a balancing act between personal autonomy and public good.

  • By Rachel Gur-Arie, The Conversation
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Tree nurseries sprout up as a climate mitigation strategy

New Mexico’s Climate Ready Trees Program helps officials identify which tree types are most likely to survive in future climate conditions.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Texas quietly moves to formalize acceptable cancer risk from industrial air pollution. Public health officials say it’s not strict enough.

Without public hearings, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is proposing to adopt its 17-year-old standard that scientists and public health officials say fails to account for cumulative air pollution.

  • By Dylan Baddour, The Texas Tribune

States grapple with impacts of medical debt

With so many adults struggling with unpaid medical bills, states are taking steps to protect consumers from the negative financial impacts of hospital debt.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Graying prisons face accelerating health care needs

Rapidly growing numbers of older inmates with diabetes, dementia and liver disease are forcing states to reevaluate early release policies and the social safety nets that might prevent incarceration.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

More schools stock overdose reversal meds, but others worry about stigma

Eight states currently require all or some schools to offer naloxone in a bid to curb opioid overdoses. But some experts question the effectiveness of such policies.

  • By Rae Ellen Bichell, KFF Health News

Amid a youth mental health crisis, teachers get schooled

Educators, who are on the front lines of the issue, are increasingly being trained in how to recognize signs of mental distress in their students.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

NYC health department publishes first guidelines for supervised injection sites

The guidance further formalizes the sites, which are federally illegal.

  • By Rebecca C. Lewis

California enters the ring of drug manufacturing. Could others follow?

As insulin prices have skyrocketed, states have intervened to lower them with price caps. Now, California’s decision to manufacture its own is leading other states to consider similar steps in an effort to ensure essential medicines are affordable to the public.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

City frames art as a way to bolster mental health services

A pilot program in Chicago looks to address mental health workforce shortages, while exploring the benefits of holistic treatment through mediums like art.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson