Four States Selected for NASHP’s Public Health Modernization Learning Collaborative
While COVID-19 has revealed longstanding gaps and challenges across public health systems, the pandemic has also catalyzed new collaborations and broke down traditional silos between public health and the broader healthcare system. As state leaders look to incorporate lessons learned from the pandemic and modernize public health systems, states are increasingly developing approaches to collaborate across sectors, meaningfully engage communities, and align efforts across health system partners.
The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), with support from the Commonwealth Fund, will convene cross-agency state teams for a one-year learning collaborative beginning October 2022. NASHP will support participating states in developing action plans for advancing key goals related to leveraging and integrating data systems, effectively engaging multi-sector partners to advance public health goals, and expanding the reach and impact of place-based strategies to address community-identified needs. States selected to participate in this learning collaborative are:
- Arkansas
- Indiana
- Michigan
- Rhode Island
The learning collaborative will support state leaders in developing a modernized public health system that is robust, interconnected, and capable of both promoting the health of all communities and addressing the challenges ahead. During winter 2022, NASHP will also release a resource toolkit containing key priorities and strategies for fostering public health and healthcare system partnerships on key public health goals. For more information on NASHP’s Public Health Modernization project and the Public Health Modernization State Leaders workgroup, visit our project announcement.
Acknowledgement: This learning collaborative is supported by the Commonwealth Fund.
For individuals living with complex, often chronic conditions, and their families, palliative care can provide relief from symptoms, improve satisfaction and outcomes, and help address critical mental and spiritual needs during difficult times. Now more than ever, there is growing recognition of the importance of palliative care services for individuals with serious illness, such as advance care planning, pain and symptom management, care coordination, and team-based, multi-disciplinary support. These services can help patients and families cope with the symptoms and stressors of disease, better anticipate and avoid crises, and reduce unnecessary and/or unwanted care. While this model is grounded in evidence that demonstrates improved quality of life, better outcomes, and reduced cost for patients, only a fraction of individuals who could benefit from palliative care receive it. 
