StatePublicHealth.org

• States Consider a Wide Array of Paid Family Leave Legislation

  Paid family leave allows employees to take paid time off during pregnancy, after the birth or adoption of a child, or when a family member needs care. Only an estimated 13-14 percent of workers in the United States have access to employer-based paid family leave. Evidence shows that paid family leave provides health-related benefits for mothers and children including increases in health benefits associated with breastfeeding, better mother-child interactions, and decreased maternal and marital stress.

• Innovative Approaches for Overdose Prevention

  For several years, state opioid overdose prevention efforts have focused on a narrow set of strategies and policies such as morbidity and mortality surveillance, prescription drug monitoring programs, provider education and guidelines, and increasing access to naloxone. According to Martha Yeide, ASTHO’s senior director for social and behavioral health, “States have focused on implementing the strategies with the most available evidence or data suggesting efficacy in addressing the opioid epidemic. At this point, now that states have several years of experience in addressing these issues, we are realizing that we need to expand our focus to continue stabilizing and driving down overdose rates.”.

• State and Federal Telehealth Policy Activity

  With access to health services becoming an increasingly important issue, states are looking to telehealth as a mechanism to increase access and remove access barriers in 2019 legislative sessions. Telehealth uses electronic information and telecommunication technologies to support and promote long-distance clinical healthcare, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and health administration. Telehealth modalities include live videoconferencing, store-and-forward, remote patient monitoring, and mobile health.