Reforming States Group Meetings in Full Swing

RSG Steering Committee members (from left) John Nilson, Robyn Kruk, and John Selig attended the Nashville meeting.

When the leaves start to change color, it’s time for the Reforming States Group (RSG) regional meetings. This year, meetings were held in Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, and Nashville. Delegations comprised of executive and legislative branch members of both major political parties from 34 states—98 participants in all—attended the meetings. Participants also hailed from two Canadian provinces, Scotland, and Australia.

The meetings featured updates from members, in which each state delegation had a chance to present on the most significant health care-related issue from their most recent legislative sessions or the health care issues that have dominated policy discussions in their area. Participants often say that this is one of their favorite parts of RSG meetings since they get detailed information about health policy topics in other states.

All three meetings featured sessions on age-friendly communities and long-term care services—and how states can support an aging population. Researchers and practitioners from a variety of groups, including the New York Academy of Medicine, the Long-Term Quality Alliance, and Aging2.0, spoke about how states can ease the way to make communities more age-friendly. Participants also learned about the changing role of long-term services, and innovative ways to think about aging and technology.

Other sessions were site-specific. In Salt Lake City, RSG members heard a presentation about Idaho’s experience dealing with hospital-provider consolidation. In Minneapolis, participants heard about that state’s experience with purchasing and delivery reform. And in Nashville, RSG members learned about advance care planning in Tennessee. Participants in all locations attended sessions on interventions that have been found to reduce emergency room use and interventions in Colorado that have reduced teen pregnancy rates.

“While the states across the country are different in many ways, the RSG meetings are incubators of learning for small, large, rural, and urban states,” says Trina Gonzalez, Program Officer at the Fund. “RSG meetings continue to offer state health policy leaders a unique opportunity to come together to exchange information and learn from one another. It’s obvious that state leaders are working hard to implement policies to improve population health that make sense in their states.”