Health Data Utilities or HDUs: A Promising New Data Sharing Framework for Advancing Health and Health Equity 

Law & Policy InsightsHealth Information and Data SharingMechanisms for Advancing Public Health

January 20, 2026
by Meghan Mead

HDUs can provide health departments critical information to respond proactively to emergencies, public health risks, and equity focused use cases. They also address many contemporary concerns around data sharing, such as transparency around governance and ensuring the access and use of data serves the public good.

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When Politics Prevent Care: School Nurses Left to Grapple with Confusing Parental Rights Laws

Law & Policy InsightsHealth in School

January 7, 2026
by Katherine Schutes and Kerri McGowan Lowrey

Many states have recently introduced parental rights legislation in response to a perceived lack of parental authority in educational settings. Largely driven by politics, these laws are not created with implementation in mind, causing confusion and compromising the care provided by school nurses, which is essential healthcare for many school-aged children.

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EOPG: Building a Community of Practice for Equity Officers

Law & Policy InsightsMechanisms for Advancing Health Equity

December 1, 2025
by Emma Kaeser and Phyllis Jeden

States rely on data from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) to identify and monitor troubling trends in adolescent health and develop programmatic and policy interventions. In January, YRBSS data were among many federal data resources pulled from public access in response to vague and scientifically unsupported executive orders signed by President Trump. The result is a dangerous blind spot at precisely the moment when schools, health agencies, and policymakers need clear information the most.

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Syndromic Surveillance: An Early Threat Detection Tool for Public Health

Law & Policy InsightsHealth Information and Data SharingEmergency Legal Preparedness and ResponseMechanisms for Advancing Public Health

December 1, 2025
by Meghan Mead

States rely on data from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) to identify and monitor troubling trends in adolescent health and develop programmatic and policy interventions. In January, YRBSS data were among many federal data resources pulled from public access in response to vague and scientifically unsupported executive orders signed by President Trump. The result is a dangerous blind spot at precisely the moment when schools, health agencies, and policymakers need clear information the most.

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Public Health Law: An Essential Link between Drought Research and Programs to Mitigate Health Impacts

Law & Policy InsightsEnvironment, Climate and HealthMechanisms for Advancing Public Health

November 13, 2025
by Betsy Lawton

The divide between states seeking to restrict abortion and states permitting it continues to widen, as the former pursue new, increasingly draconian, maneuvers to restrict abortion access and the latter bolster protections in response. The intra-state conflict incited by this divide is coming to a head in a legal struggle between Texas and New York. The lawsuit, Texas v. Bruck,  challenges enforcement of a New York shield law and threatens the viability of such legal safeguards moving forward, with major consequences for reproductive health care access.

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Unnecessary Documentation Burdens Create Barriers to Health and Democracy for All

Law & Policy InsightsMechanisms for Advancing Public HealthMechanisms for Advancing Health Equity

October 29, 2025
by Quang H. Dang

The divide between states seeking to restrict abortion and states permitting it continues to widen, as the former pursue new, increasingly draconian, maneuvers to restrict abortion access and the latter bolster protections in response. The intra-state conflict incited by this divide is coming to a head in a legal struggle between Texas and New York. The lawsuit, Texas v. Bruck,  challenges enforcement of a New York shield law and threatens the viability of such legal safeguards moving forward, with major consequences for reproductive health care access.

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Reproductive Health Care Shield Laws: How a Legal Conflict Between New York and Texas Might Shape Access to Abortion, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy Care

Law & Policy InsightsReproductive Health and Equity Maternal and Child Health

October 15, 2025
by Emma Kaeser

The divide between states seeking to restrict abortion and states permitting it continues to widen, as the former pursue new, increasingly draconian, maneuvers to restrict abortion access and the latter bolster protections in response. The intra-state conflict incited by this divide is coming to a head in a legal struggle between Texas and New York. The lawsuit, Texas v. Bruck,  challenges enforcement of a New York shield law and threatens the viability of such legal safeguards moving forward, with major consequences for reproductive health care access.

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To Address Overdose, The U.S. Should Ramp Up Proven Interventions at Home, Not Performative Attacks Abroad.

Law & Policy InsightsSubstance Use Prevention and Harm ReductionHarm Reduction Legal Project

October 15, 2025
by Corey Davis

President Trump and members of his administration have justified recent deadly assaults on civilians abroad by claiming that the boats they were in were carrying illicit drugs and that the alleged drug smuggling “constitutes an armed attack on the United States.” We have effective prevention, treatment, and harm reduction interventions that reduce overdose and other harms. The U.S. should embrace and fund those initiatives at home, not engage in inhumane, unjust, and ineffective attacks abroad.

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Paying People to Refrain from Drug Use Works. Recent Policy Changes Have Eased the Legal Barriers to this Promising Practice.

Law & Policy InsightsSubstance Use Prevention and Harm ReductionHarm Reduction Legal Project

September 29, 2025
by Michael Abrams

States rely on data from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) to identify and monitor troubling trends in adolescent health and develop programmatic and policy interventions. In January, YRBSS data were among many federal data resources pulled from public access in response to vague and scientifically unsupported executive orders signed by President Trump. The result is a dangerous blind spot at precisely the moment when schools, health agencies, and policymakers need clear information the most.

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