State Health Policy Leadership

The 988 designation is a federal designation of the need for easier access to behavioral health crisis services and part of a trend for strengthening the continuum of behavioral health care to include a wide array of community-based services, as well as inpatient services through public and private hospitals. More

Many states are focused on building a coordinated continuum of behavioral health care that includes a wide array of community-based services as well as inpatient services through public and private hospitals. More

Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island announced last week a commitment to a common framework for COVID-19 testing for high-risk, asymptomatic residents and for financing this testing. More

As part of the Public Sector Leadership Consortium’s Leadership Forward podcast series, we recently spoke with Tom Betlach, MPA, former Arizona Medicaid director, and Jim Jones, Medicaid director at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, to discuss the skills they have used to lead public agencies through economic recessions. More

As part of the Public Sector Leadership Consortium’s new Leadership Forward series, we spoke with Womazetta Jones, secretary of Rhode Island’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and Karen Kimsey, director of the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services, to discuss leadership strategies they have implemented to infuse equity into their organizations and in their engagements with stakeholders. More

As part of the Public Sector Leadership Consortium’s Leadership Forward podcast series, I recently spoke with LaQuandra Nesbitt, MD, MPH, director of the District of Columbia Department of Health, and Suzanne Bierman, JD, MPH, administrator of the Division of Health Care Financing and Policy for the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss how they have remained focused on a long-term vision throughout COVID-19 and used strategic communications and other approaches to advance that vision. More

In recent years, many states have seen an increase in the prevalence of behavioral health diagnoses and challenges in treatment access. At the same time, the health care delivery system has increasingly relied on telehealth. Given the importance of behavioral health care and the desire of state policymakers to improve outcomes, leaders should consider the effectiveness of various behavioral health treatments delivered via synchronous telehealth. More

What role has storytelling played in the successes and failures of state government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic? In an article published… More

The answer to rising health care costs may well lie in initiating state-level conversations among moderates and reframing the way we talk about health care costs, rather than in overturning deeply held ideological beliefs. More

As part of the Public Sector Leadership Consortium’s new Leadership Forward series, Erica Brown, program officer at the Milbank Memorial Fund, recently spoke with Jami Snyder, director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and Kody Kinsley, deputy secretary for behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disabilities for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss leadership strategies they implemented to fortify themselves and their staff during the pandemic. More