News & Insights

Overuse of smartphones is associated with a variety of negative health effects. As technology, our culture, and the evidence continue to evolve, public health has a role to play in educating young people, their parents, and the public about the risks and benefits of smartphone use, and in the development of laws to address the risks of excessive smartphone use and addiction.

A requester contacted the Network noting that it is a misdemeanor for pharmacists to sell drug paraphernalia in his state and that there were also no needle exchange sites in the state. Limited access to drug paraphernalia may increase the likelihood that intravenous drug users will share needles, increasing the spread of diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. The requester wanted to know if other states have similar laws and what strategies for harm reduction have been used in those states.

The creation and enforcement of municipal laws criminalizing homelessness are escalating in U.S. cities. Much like the criminalization of HIV, the criminalization of homelessness creates additional barriers to housing, health care, employment and other basic human needs, perpetuating the cycle of homelessness and corresponding health inequities.

When Amazon purchased Wholefoods for $13.7 billion in 2017, most people did not think of how this might affect low-income Americans living in food deserts. However, thanks to the 2014 Farm Bill, the power of online food retail will soon help increase food access for some of the 41.2 million Americans struggling with food insecurity.

A growing body of research establishes that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may negatively affect health and well-being throughout a person’s life span. The impact of ACEs, however, can be ameliorated by trauma-informed practices, such as through early childhood interventions that mitigate social and environmental risks for families and promote resilience. Wisconsin has been a leader in integrating trauma-informed policy across its state government.

A recent $3.5-million jury verdict awarded to residents of a bed-bug infested apartment complex in Los Angeles illuminates issues raised by many bed bug cases, including whether the burden to eliminate bedbugs should be placed on landlords or tenants; whether current state laws and local ordinances are effective in addressing bed bug issues and affording relief to victims; and whether these laws encourage productive behavior by landlords and tenants.

For the first time, the federal government has given a state permission to impose work requirements as a condition for Medicaid coverage. As troubling as these policy developments are, there is a more disturbing assumption underlying them. In its efforts to justify work requirements as a legitimate feature of a Medicaid program, the administration relies on a distorted concept of the social determinants of health.

The number of Americans affected by the opioid epidemic has reached staggering rates. In 2016, more Americans died from drug overdoses than died through the entirety of the Vietnam War. Fortunately, there is an effective, evidence-based way of treating opioid use disorder (OUD) – treatment with the medications methadone and buprenorphine, which is termed medication-assisted treatment (MAT).

Nearly 4.7 million Americans, including 1.3 million new enrollees, signed up for health care through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces, and polling indicates the public has a favorable opinion of the law. Nevertheless, after failing in their full-scale attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration continue to put individual pieces of the legislation at risk of elimination.

Tax incentives can be an effective legal intervention for advancing the public’s health. In this Q&A, Mathew Swinburne, Associate Director at the Network's Eastern Region Office, discusses ways in which tax deductions are being used to address a key barrier to improving the health status of ex-offenders: the inability to secure employment because of conviction status.

New guidelines released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in October clarify when and how healthcare providers can share a patient’s health information with family members, friends and legal representatives of those who are struggling with opioid addiction. The HIPAA Privacy Rule is often cited as a reason to refuse access to a patient’s health information, sometimes appropriately, but often not. Understanding when and how healthcare providers can share patient information with family members, friends, and legal representatives without violating the HIPAA Privacy Rule is therefore a critical component to addressing the opioid crisis and providing care to those affected.

Limited numbers of providers, cost of care, limited time, and limited mobility all reduce a person’s ability to access basic care. One way states have begun to address this issue is through scope of practice adjustments for pharmacists, granting those pharmacists with proper training the ability to become a provider themselves and prescribe certain drugs to certain patients that may otherwise be unable to obtain care.