The Workforce Solutions Partnership, a collaboration of The National Council for Mental Wellbeing, The College for Behavioral Health Leadership, and Health Management Associates has worked since 2021 to create both short and long-term solutions addressing the behavioral health workforce crisis. In this whitepaper, we issue a Call to Action to partners across all sectors to join us in this effort to drive pervasive change and ensure the future of behavioral health care. We need you to help us create and define the future of the workforce and envision a new system of care. This paper outlines the problem and highlights the efforts developed by our partnership, and mechanisms that can help to address the problem.
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The Medicaid Pivot: New Developments in Section 1115 Demonstration Policy
This week, our In Focus section examines new federal policy developments affecting Medicaid Section 1115 demonstrations. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), on March 4, 2025, rescinded two guidance letters issued by the prior Presidential Administration that defined and provided the framework for state Medicaid programs to cover health-related social needs (HRSNs) using Section 1115 authority.
Though specific Medicaid priorities under the Trump Administration are nascent, Health Management Associates’ federal and state experts are monitoring these developments. This article describes the withdrawn policy, known implications for states with approved and pending proposals, and the imperative to plan for a variety of scenarios and future opportunities.
Background on HRSN Initiative in Section 1115 Demonstrations
CMS-approved Section 1115 demonstrations allow states to pilot alternative methods to improve the accessibility, coverage, financing, and delivery of healthcare services under joint federal-state funded programs, specifically Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Addressing health disparities and promoting integrated care in Medicaid became a key focus of the Biden Administration. In November 2023, CMS introduced a Medicaid and CHIP Health-Related Social Needs Framework, giving state Medicaid agencies the opportunity to address the broader social determinants of health (SDOH) that affect their enrollees, leading to better health outcomes. The agency published an update to the guidance in December 2024. The new initiatives were not intended to replace other federal, state, and local social service programs, but rather to coordinate with those efforts.
Key Takeaways for States
The following critical components of the March 2025 announcement and the present policy landscape should inform state Medicaid agency and stakeholder response and future planning work.
First, this guidance does not affect states with a current, active Section 1115 demonstration, state plan, or 1915 waiver programs that include HRSN. States with HRSN demonstrations will maintain their approved programs; however, states and their partners should prepare for shifts in federal reporting, oversight, and evaluation expectations. Separately, states may wish to re-evaluate their resource allocation and consider adjustments that may be needed to better align with a new federal policy environment.
States seeking any amendment or extension of their demonstration program—even if unrelated to HRSN—should expect this activity to trigger a CMS review of the HRSN component of the 1115. States will need to consider the strategic advantages and necessity of such requests relative to the implications to their HRSN initiative. They also should consider planning for nonrenewal of their HRSN programs in advance of the demonstration’s current expiration date.
Pending state HRSN Section 1115 demonstration proposals are not expected to be approved. The Section 1115 option for federal matching funds to provide up to six months of housing supports, nutrition supports, and associated infrastructure capacity funding no longer aligns with the Trump Administration’s objectives for Medicaid and CHIP. Stakeholders interested in these concepts should consider alternative strategies and investment options.
What to Watch
Notably, CMS did not rescind the 2021 State Health Official Letter RE: Opportunities in Medicaid and CHIP to Address Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) (SHO# 21-001) published during the first Trump Administration. States and their partners should monitor CMS’s actions and signals for the agency’s posture toward SDOH proposals.
A new group of states proposing alternative and revised demonstration concepts and innovations is likely to emerge. These states may provide early signals of the nature and breadth of the Section 1115 demonstrations CMS is willing to consider. With regard to SDOH, states and their partners should consider aligning proposals with the approaches outlined in the 2021 guidance for regular federal program authorities (e.g., 1915(i) state plan options, 1915(c) waiver options) as well as certain managed care authorities.
In addition, states and Medicaid stakeholders should watch for other Medicaid and CHIP policy priorities advanced through demonstration and other authorities, including efforts to address substance use disorders (SUD) and reentry initiatives that focus on supporting individuals who are transitioning from incarceration back into society. SUD and reentry initiatives can intersect with Section 1115 demonstrations and other authorities, such as managed care, in a variety of ways. The intersection of these issues can provide another area of common ground and opportunity to continue work on state reentry initiatives, though likely with new and modified federal parameters.
Connect With Us
HMA is monitoring other developments in Congress and from the White House and agencies affecting federal Medicaid and CHIP policy changes. The complexity and nuances associated with potential future statutory and regulatory changes necessitate thoughtful and immediate impact analysis, scenario planning, and preparations that will allow organizations to pivot if and when policy changes occur. HMA colleagues have expertise in all of the components critical to staying informed, engaged, and prepared for changes to Section 1115 programs—from the policy knowledge to actuarial/budgeting talent, to communications and project management skills, as well as the necessary IT infrastructure.
For questions about these developments and your organization’s plan to adapt to new federal Medicaid policy priorities, contact our featured experts below.
March 12, 2025
The Medicaid Pivot: New Developments in Section 1115 Demonstration Policy
HMA partners with Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) on webinar series to help organizations with Survey Readiness
In today’s complex healthcare environment, navigating the scrutiny of regulatory and accreditation bodies like The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health (DOH), The Joint Commission, and Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Healthcare is critical for the success of every hospital and health system. Unexpected surveys, triggered by recertification, validations or even complaints, can occur at any time.
HMA has partnered with the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) to develop the content for Survey Readiness: Prepare, Respond, Succeed, a 5-part virtual series on Wednesdays in April from 1- 2:30pm ET. HMA’s expert faculty will also co-teach the sessions. Attendees will dive deep into organizational strategies and tactics to prepare, manage and respond to surveyors effectively – and get the essential skills to excel in survey readiness.
While some examples in the program will address issues from the New York state perspective, attendees from organizations nationwide should attend. Hospital and long-term care executive team and leaders in quality and compliance, survey coordinators, and risk management will benefit from attending.
Survey Readiness: Prepare, Respond, Succeed
Virtual Series | April 2 – 30
- April 2: Survey readiness 101: Overview and getting started
- April 9: Preparation: How to mitigate risk and prepare for upcoming surveys
- April 16: They’re here: Establishing a survey response and management protocol
- April 23: Responding to survey findings: How to develop a strong correction plan and knowing your options
- April 30: What’s next: Leveraging survey findings and strengthening organizational quality and compliance
The cost to attend this series is $475.
State hospital associations and their members can enjoy $50 off when using this code when registering: SHADISCOUNT25
To learn more and to register, visit http://hanys.org/events/survey-readiness.
PACE Plans and The Changing Risk Environment
Programs for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) plans are programs aimed at keeping low-income older adults living in the community and out of nursing homes, providing home care, prescriptions, meals, and transportation to participants. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed changes to the risk score model used for PACE (which determines the calculation for how many Medicare dollars PACE gets) that will create funding vulnerabilities in the Medicare rate. If approved, this would likely mean PACE programs get significantly lower funding amounts from Medicare than under the current model. The final notice is expected to be released in April 2025. If approved, this change would be fully phased in by 2029.
PACE enrollees, as compared to enrollees in Medicare Advantage plans, disproportionally have conditions that will no longer be risk-adjustable, such as depression, leading to an across-the-board drop in risk scores. Along with the reduced funding for PACE programs, this risk model change will create data submission issues for PACE organizations and their vendors. When health plans, who are much more risk-score focused in general than PACE plans, underwent this same change, risk scores dropped by between 5%-20%. If PACE programs don’t fix their data submissions in 2025, they’ll lose money in 2026 and beyond.
To sustain and grow, PACE leaders must understand and plan for the change to v28 risk scores. HMA’s team of consultants and our actuaries from Wakely, an HMA Company, have put together an analysis to help PACE plans understand and prepare for the transition:
- HMA will create reports showing the current (v22) risk score, the proposed (v28) risk score, and the impact by diagnosis category to help with potential recapture efforts.
- Identify data submission problems and suggest strategies for fixing them.
- Outline potential financial and operational adjustments uncovered during the analysis.
HMA has found that this the change in the process of diagnosis submission is a blind spot for many PACE plans and may be more critical to mitigate than the impacts from the risk adjustment model change.
HMA & Wakely will be hosting a booth at the National PACE Association Spring Policy Forum in Washington, DC on March 17 and 18. If you are attending, we hope you will visit us there. If you would like help understanding the potential impact to your PACE organization, contact us about developing an analysis to help you respond to these changes.
2025 State of the State Addresses, Part 2: Evolving Healthcare Priorities Across the Nation
This week, our In Focus section reviews priorities outlined in recent State of the State addresses, building on an earlier article: A Closer Look at Gubernatorial Healthcare Priorities: 2025 State of the State Address Overview. We examine specific proposals from the governors of Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, and South Carolina, as detailed in the Health Management Associates Information Services (HMAIS) report, 2025 State of the States Overview. These states offer examples of the trending policy changes and investments governors intend to make, providing valuable insights into the evolving healthcare landscape.
Key Trends in Governors’ Budgets
State of the State addresses provide insights into governors’ priorities, reflecting state budgets, multiyear initiatives, and changes in federal policies and funding. These priorities signal strategic shifts healthcare stakeholders must navigate to remain aligned with the evolving state and federal policy landscapes. Common themes that Health Management Associates (HMA) is tracking this year include healthcare affordability, Medicaid work requirements, workforce shortages, and enhanced oversight of healthcare entities.
Highlights by State
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered a 2025 State of the State Address on February 19, 2025, during which he presented his executive budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2026 and discussed strengthening oversight of healthcare entities like pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and health insurers. Governor Pritzker introduced the Prescription Drug Affordability Act, which seeks to further regulate PBMs, reduce drug costs, and protect independent pharmacists. More specifically, it would give the state Department of Insurance full statutory authority to examine PBM records and require these organizations to comply with annual auditing and reporting requirements. The governor also called for a ban on prior authorization for behavioral healthcare and proposed requiring insurance companies to reimburse patients for reasonable travel costs for medical appointments when the distance they must travel exceeds network adequacy requirements.
Pritzker’s budget allocations include:
- $191.8 million to support the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Medicaid Demonstration Program
- $27.9 million to maintain the state’s maternal and child home health programs
- $27.7 million to support nonhospital facilities that provide psychiatric care to people younger than 21 years old
- $132 million for Medicaid-like coverage for undocumented adults ages 65 and older
- A shift in funding from the state’s Exchange to a State-Based Marketplace, which would end use of the federal platform
In addition, the budget plan eliminates funding for Medicaid-like coverage for undocumented adults ages 42−64, which cost approximately $420 million in one year.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun delivered his address on January 29, 2025, during which he discussed his support for state legislation that would address healthcare costs. Governor Braun urged the legislature to pass multiple bills, including:
- House Bill (HB) 1003: Specifies that the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MCFU) may investigate provider fraud, insurer fraud, and duplicate billing and would require more healthcare price transparency, stop anticompetitive practices that drive up prices, and put an end to surprise billing
- Senate Bill (SB) 3: Would mandate that third party administrators, PBMs, employee benefit consultants, and insurance providers acting on behalf of plan sponsors have a fiduciary duty to the plan sponsors
- HB 1004: Would bolster oversight of nonprofit hospital financials
The governor also encouraged the legislature to support efforts focused on PBM reforms.
Governor Braun’s proposed budget for the 2025−27 biennium recommends a general fund appropriation of more than $5 billion in FY 2025−26 and $5.3 billion in FY 2026−27 for the state Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning. Moreover, the state is still managing the effects of a nearly $1 billion shortfall it identified in the Medicaid budget in FY 2024. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration predicts total Medicaid expenditures will reach nearly $21 billion in FY 2025, up 6.4 percent from $19 billion in 2024 and will likely increase by at least another $1 billion in both 2026 and 2027.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham delivered her 2025 State of the State Address on January 21, 2025, wherein she discussed the new state Health Care Authority (HCA), which launched in July 2024. According to Governor Grisham, the HCA has helped the state to increase Medicaid provider rates, create a Health Care Affordability Fund, and expand the Health Care Professional Loan Repayment Program. To continue with HCA’s work, the governor announced that in March 2025, the state will be sending more than $1 billion to New Mexico hospitals through the Medicaid provider tax. She also recommended that the state legislature approve $50 million in additional funding for the Rural Health Care Delivery Fund, which supports getting new and expanded primary, behavioral, maternal and child, and specialty healthcare services into rural areas.
In her proposed FY 2026 budget, the governor recommends:
- $13 million in recurring funds to increase reimbursement rates up to 150 percent of Medicare rates
- $5.3 million for the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)
- $2.5 million for increased assisted living facility rates
- $2.9 million to increase behavioral health rates for non-Medicare equivalents
- $30 million annually over three years to expand Medicaid services, including medical respite for people who are homeless, food support for certain individuals who pregnant, infrastructure to provide medical services to people who are justice-involved, and infrastructure to provide housing and food supports.
In addition, the budget recommends a $100 million special appropriation to address behavioral health needs, which will fund the 988 program, an investment to secure a federal match for the CCBHC Initiative, more drug and alcohol treatment services at the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute, and medical and behavioral health providers at the Corrections Department.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster delivered his 2025 State of the State Address on January 29, 2025, in which he discussed the state’s siloed health and human services delivery system, which he said creates a difficult landscape to navigate for people with physical disabilities, special needs, and mental health issues. Governor McMaster said the state must make immediate changes to the Department of Mental Health and Department of Disabilities and Special Needs and proposed making the boards of commissioners that run the departments directly accountable to the governor.
The governor’s proposed FY 2025−26 budget highlighted his priority of reimplementing Medicaid work requirements through a Section 1115 demonstration waiver, which the state previously had in place during President Donald Trump’s first administration. Governor McMaster has already requested an expedited approval of the demonstration, which would expand Medicaid eligibility to 100 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) for parents who are working or going to school. Under South Carolina’s existing eligibility rules, parents no longer qualify for Medicaid if they earn more than 67 percent of the FPL. The work and school requirements would only apply to parents with incomes of between 67 percent and 100 percent of the FPL.
The budget also recommends approximately $79 million in recurring funds to support the state’s Medicaid program. Those funds would be allocated as follows:
- $5.7 million toward increasing behavioral health provider payment rates
- $5.4 million toward increasing opioid use disorder provider reimbursement rates
- $10 million toward reducing waiting lists for home and community-based services
- $2.4 million toward intensive partial hospitalization and outpatient behavioral health programs
In addition, the budget recommends funding for the Department of Public Health and $1.6 million in nonrecurring funds and $625,000 in recurring funds for the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies program and its mobile maternity care vehicle.
Connect With Us
HMAIS has prepared a comprehensive report summarizing each State of the State address and governors’ proposed budgets, which is available to HMAIS subscribers. It also comprises a section highlighting trends in the issues covered in each speech, including maternal health, substance use disorder, Medicaid work requirements, prescription drug prices, and provider rates.
HMA supports healthcare stakeholders in responding to these developments, offering strategic guidance and expertise to help navigate the evolving policy landscape and align with the shifting priorities outlined in these addresses. Contact one of our experts below for more information about the report or to connect with one of HMA’s state policy and market experts.
March 5, 2025
2025 State of the State Addresses, Part 2: Evolving Healthcare Priorities Across the Nation
HMA Prepares Health and Human Services Assessment for the City of Watertown
On Tuesday, February 25, 2025, the Watertown City Council unanimously endorsed the recommendations of a year-long health and human services assessment prepared by HMA for the City of Watertown, Massachusetts. The report, released in November 2024, included a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the community’s health and human service needs and recommended resources to fill those gaps. As part of the project, HMA facilitated extensive community outreach and data gathering efforts in 2024 to elicit a range of community perspectives including 20 interviews, 8 focus groups, and 2 community-wide meetings resulting in 9 recommendations for organizational and program efficiencies and enhancements.
Through engagement and analysis, key community priorities emerged with a focus on programs and services relating to housing security, food security, wellness promotion, disability supports, older adult supports, communications and language access, immigrant supports, veterans’ services, public health, physical and behavioral health, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Health and human services were considered through an intersectional lens, recognizing their overlapping qualities and characteristics that reflect how real people experience their own unique needs and seek support from a multitude of public and private supports.
Child and Teen Mental Health and the Lifting Voices initiative
Each year on March 2 we observe World Teen Mental Wellness Day, which aims to raise awareness and destigmatize mental health issues experienced by teenagers, and to expand the conversation around available resources. There is an ongoing mental health and substance use crisis in our country. Families everywhere experience difficult and challenging experiences as their loved ones are cycled in and out of a system dealing with workforce shortages and resource issues. HMA works extensively to address the opportunities and challenges inherent in our struggling behavioral health system, including substance use disorder and on child welfare and family resilience programs throughout the country. #WorldTeenMentalWellnessDay
One such program is Lifting Voices, an independent initiative developed by Heidi Arthur and Ellen Breslin, both HMA Principals, who co-founded the initiative, informed by their own family members’ experience and by their expertise in behavioral health policy and practice. As parents of children who nearly died on multiple occasions from severe behavioral health conditions, the co-founders are driven to inform the transformation of the youth behavioral healthcare system. As behavioral health professionals who found themselves struggling to navigate the many challenges facing their own children, they realized that their knowledge, desperation, and resources afforded their children access to interventions that should be available to every child and youth in need of services. Their experience of the care delivery system has also inspired their commitment to highlight the urgent improvements necessary to support struggling children and parents affected by the nation’s youth behavioral health crisis.
The co-founders published the initial Lifting Voices report in October 2023. Since then, the team has engaged multiple youth and family collaborators and state and national partners. They presented the report and their ongoing efforts at national and state conferences.
They developed a second iteration of the surveys and a website to scale the dissemination effort, with collaborators, Kelsey Engelbracht who developed the website and Sheilah Gauch who helped to develop the survey.
“We felt an imperative to lift the voices of youth and families experiencing mental health and substance use conditions,” says co-founder, Ellen Breslin.
Heidi Arthur added, “So far we’ve received just over 100 survey responses. As we reach each 100-response milestone we plan to collaborate with our network of youth and family advisors to distill key findings that we can share in order to inform improvements to the system.” They plan to release the first report in May 2025.
In February 2025, the team was invited by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Office of Recovery to participate in workgroups providing input into a toolkit for family and caregivers and to further define and describe SAMHSA’s framework of community-based recovery supports.
You can join national organizations and state agencies in disseminating the secure, anonymous Lifting Voices surveys by simply sharing the Lifting Voices | transform behavioral health link and inviting families and youth to participate.
Findings will be disseminated with the goal of sharing the experience that youth/young adults and parents/caregivers are having as they seek services for child and youth mental health and/or substance use.
To learn more about this project, or inquire about ways that HMA can help with other behavioral health, child welfare, or substance use disorder issues, contact a member of our behavioral health team.
On Rare Disease Day, HMA releases new report analyzing federal spending on Orphan Drugs
Rare Disease Day is observed globally each year on February 28 to raise awareness, access, and diagnosis to therapies for people with rare diseases. Today HMA releases a report titled Analyzing the Impact of Policies to Exclude Certain Orphan Drugs from the Drug Price Negotiation Program of the Inflation Reduction Act, that examines how many orphan drugs the ORPHAN Cures Act might affect and the percentage of Medicare Part B and Part D spending that is attributable to these drugs. Using that information, we estimated how the legislation would affect federal spending, applying the same assumptions and methodology that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) uses in a 10-year budget score.
Spotlight on Development of President Trump’s Children’s Health Strategy
This week, our In Focus section highlights President Trump’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) executive order, which is designed to address the challenges driving chronic diseases in the United States. Our article delves into the key components of the order, presents a data snapshot about the state of children’s health, and discusses implications for stakeholders seeking to prepare for and inform the transitions impacting the future of children’s health.
Presidents can use executive orders to communicate their priorities and set a framework and timelines for federal agency actions. Historically, these orders have provided strong signals for the initiatives and policy direction that federal departments and agencies will pursue. Health Management Associates (HMA), experts are monitoring the MAHA directive and several other executive orders, alongside other Trump Administration actions.
Executive Order: Making Children Healthy
On February 13, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order establishing the Make America Healthy Again Commission, chaired by US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The commission, which builds on the Secretary’s prior work, is charged with combating “critical health challenges facing citizens, including the rising rates of mental health disorders, obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.”
Initially, the commission will focus on studying and addressing childhood chronic diseases. The order directs the commission to release within 30 days an assessment that summarizes what is known about the childhood chronic disease crisis, identifies gaps in knowledge, and includes international comparisons. This report will serve as the foundation for developing a strategy to improve the health of children, which is due within 180 days of the order.
Data Snapshot: Childhood Chronic Conditions
Evaluating existing data and identifying gaps in data for children are critical initial steps toward developing a comprehensive and evidence-driven federal policy agenda. At present, 90 percent of the $4.5 trillion in annual US healthcare expenditures are used to provide services to people with chronic and mental health conditions. Many of the risk factors for developing these conditions begin in childhood and some are preventable. For example:
- Obesity affects 20 percent of children and 42 percent of adults, putting them at risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. More than one in three young adults ages 17−24 are too heavy to join the US military. The youth obesity rate from 2017−2020 was 19.7 percent, a 42 percent increase from the rate in 1999−2000. Lifestyle choices, combined with social and environmental factors like access to healthy foods and neighborhood walkability and safety can significantly reduce the risk of developing obesity.
- In 2022, diabetes and the complications associated with it accounted for $413 billion in total medical costs and lost wages in the United States. While few children have type 2 diabetes, nearly one in five adolescents (12−18 years old) have prediabetes and may develop diabetes in adulthood. Like obesity, both personal choices and adverse social and environmental factors can increase the lifetime risk of developing diabetes.
- Approximately 4.9 million children in the United States have asthma, which is incurable but can be managed. Asthma is one of the main causes for missed school days among children. Many US schools have poor indoor air quality, which can expose children to allergens, irritants, and triggers such as mold, dust, and pests. Conditions in children’s homes also can exacerbate asthma.
How Federal Programs Impact Children’s Health
Numerous federal programs directly and indirectly affect children’s health. Examples include:
- Nationally, more than 38 percent of children have Medicaid coverage, with rates exceeding 50 percent in some states and territories (e.g., Louisiana, New Mexico, Puerto Rico). Medicaid’s requirement to cover Early Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) has long been the vehicle for addressing the chronic healthcare needs of children on Medicaid. For example, for children with asthma, in addition to covering medications to prevent and treat exacerbations, some states will reimburse providers for conducting home health assessments to identify and remediate triggers in the home. In addition, federal funding through both Medicaid and US Department of Education supports school nurses and school-based health centers, which can be critical resources in addressing the chronic healthcare needs of students, such as the administration of Insulin or providing inhalers to children experiencing asthma.
- To receive funding through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs, schools must provide meals aligned with the “meal pattern” established by US Department of Agriculture, which specifies the amount of food among various groups and an age-based maximum for calories, saturated fat, and sodium. Under current guidelines, by 2027, school meals also will be expected to comply with limits on added sugars.
- Participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides participants with certain foods to meet their nutritional needs, have a lower risk for preterm birth, low birthweight infants, and infant mortality.
Federal programs affect children’s home and school environment in other ways, and the health implications of those funding choices may not be explicitly recognized or prioritized. For example:
- Housing assistance programs in some cases prevent families from experiencing homelessness but may place them in living situations where exposure to environmental hazards such as mold, pests, or pollution and neighborhood factors like crime and lack of walkability may adversely affect their health.
- Some federal agriculture programs are specifically designed to make nutritious foods available (e.g., Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, or GusNIP), while others support agriculture without specifically bringing a health lens to those programs.
Implications for Stakeholders
The President has directed that the strategy address “appropriately restructuring the Federal Government’s response to the childhood chronic disease crisis, including by ending Federal practices that exacerbate the health crisis or unsuccessfully attempt to address it, and by adding powerful new solutions that will end childhood chronic disease.” Though we do not know what the Make our Children Healthy Again Assessment and Strategy will recommend, we anticipate it will present both opportunities and risks for organizations focused on children’s health. As the commission begins its work, organizations can take the following actions:
- Consider policy opportunities: Review your organization’s strategic plan as well as your operational and policy priorities and consider how they may fit into this framework. This could be the time to suggest changes to federal grants you receive or federal regulations or requirements that negatively affect your ability to keep children healthy.
- Prepare for potential funding disruptions: It is possible that programs you rely on will have changes in scope or funding levels. Review your offerings for children with chronic conditions and identify substitutes or complements to your main priorities. Consider partners you might work with to keep work going that may not have the same level of federal support in the future.
- Be prepared to share the real-world impacts of policy changes: Begin gathering data, stories, and compelling information to share about chronic conditions affecting children that can be used in future public comment opportunities, shared with the media, and discussed with your federal, state, and local representatives. Think about how to talk about these issues in a clear and compelling way that will resonate with each of those audiences.
- Find partners and allies: As you consider the policy opportunities and risks, think about other organizations that share your interests and how you can work with them in complementary ways. It can be compelling to policymakers when stakeholders who might not naturally be aligned on other issues can unite around a specific policy area.
Connect with Us
Healthcare stakeholders with a commitment to healthy children and healthy adults have an opportunity to support the specific policies and funding opportunities that may emerge from the MAHA order. To learn more about these policy changes, the impact on your organization, and actions your organization can take, contact our one of our featured experts below.