The Commonwealth Fund published a new report that analyzes health care data in the United States and offers a cross-national comparison. The report looks at how the United States compares to wealthy countries, including Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom, and found that the U.S. holds the highest suicide rates and lowest life expectancy, despite
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a new brief, Challenges in Providing Substance Use Disorder Treatment to Child Welfare Clients in Rural Communities, that focuses on the barriers rural communities face in providing substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, particularly to
In the past week, several publications have reported that the Administration is readying a proposal to allow states to take a block grant of Medicaid funding. Publications, including the Wall Street Journal and Politico, are describing efforts by CMS Administrator Seema Verma to develop the policy. The proposal would be issued through a letter to
Utah became the 19th state to ban LGBTQ conversion therapy, the practice, aimed at changing a patient's sexual orientation or gender identity. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) does not recognize the practice of conversion therapy and considers it unethical. Republican Gov. Gary Herbert proposed this new rule to ban conversion therapy on minors in November
On January 15, 2020, the Children’s Bureau released the annual child abuse and neglect report: Child Maltreatment 2018. The numbers show an increase in the rates of abuse and neglect for the first time since 2015, with infants and young children having the highest increase in child maltreatment. For the federal fiscal year 2018, there
A new study, Association of Medicaid Expansion With Opioid Overdose Mortality in the United States, finds that jurisdictions that expanded access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) had a six percent reduction in opioid deaths. The study published in JAMA Network Open, more specifically counties in expansion states, had an 11 percent lower
On Tuesday, January 14, the House Committee on Education and Labor approved H.R. 5191, the Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act (RHYTPA) of 2019. The bill, which is a reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act of 1974 (RHYA), adds non-discriminatory language that aims to protect LGBTQ+ youth, focuses on trauma-informed services,
Congress officially returned last week. Beyond the debate over Iran and impeachment, members used the week to prepare for the upcoming year that will include a presidential election, a debate over FY 2021 spending and, for CWLA and members, the beginning of the celebration of 100 years. The CWLA agenda includes a completion of the
On Thursday, December 19, Congress passed the Family First Transition Act as part of an omnibus appropriations bill this week. The further consolidated appropriations bill of 2020 (page 1483) is the appropriations agreement reached through Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and congressional leaders. The original vehicle for the Family First Transition bill was supposed to move
As part of the budget deal, Congress provided the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) with some small but important increases that CWLA and the National Child Abuse Coalition sees as being part of a new recognition of CAPTA’s importance. CAPTA state grants will increase by $5 million to $90 million. Far short of