The Nationwide Academy of Medication (NAM) has named the inaugural class of fellows in a pilot State Well being Coverage Fellowship (SHPF) program. Beginning this month, three well being professionals will spend a yr in state legislative and government department workplaces in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as contributors to the event and implementation of state well being insurance policies and packages.
The NAM is collaborating with the Nationwide Academy for State Well being Coverage (NASHP) to create this nationally coordinated fellowship to develop state well being coverage capability. The SHPF mannequin is predicated on the NAM’s RWJF Well being Coverage Fellows program, which has been inserting well being professionals in federal coverage making workplaces since 1973.
“It’s evident that many, if not a majority, of well being insurance policies are made and applied on the state stage and have important impacts on well being outcomes — we’ve got seen this play out round COVID-19 and reproductive well being providers,” mentioned NAM President Victor J. Dzau, in an announcement. “This primary-of-its-kind fellowship addresses an unmet want in growing a pipeline of expertise on the state stage and specializing in state well being coverage with the capability for interstate coaching and information sharing.”
The NAM will companion with organizations in every collaborating state to manage the fellowship: the College of Colorado Eugene S. Farley Jr. Well being Coverage Middle; the College of Pittsburgh Well being Coverage Institute; and the Advancing a More healthy Wisconsin Endowment on the Medical School of Wisconsin. Every group can be offering funding to help the fellowship in its pilot yr. Extra help is being supplied by the College of Texas System.
Inaugural fellows embrace: 1) Brandi Freeman, M.D., M.S., affiliate professor of pediatrics and the Vice Chair for Range, Fairness, and Inclusion for the College of Colorado Division of Pediatrics and attending doctor on the Youngster Well being Clinic on the Kids’s Hospital of Colorado; 2) Meredith Hughes, J.D., M.P.H., assistant professor within the Division of Well being Coverage and Administration on the College of Pittsburgh College of Public Well being. She obtained each her regulation diploma and Grasp of Public Well being from the College of Pittsburgh; and three) Rachel Bernard, M.D., M.P.H., medical director within the COVID Response Bureau on the Chicago Division of Public Well being and assistant professor within the Division of Medication on the Medical School of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
By inserting well being professionals in state authorities workplaces, the SHPF program will present subject material experience and context to native coverage deliberations. In flip, fellows will study to take part totally in state coverage and political processes and acquire the talents and information essential to affect coverage all through their careers.
Following orientation and coaching supplied by the NAM in Washington, D.C., SHPF fellows will function well being coverage advisers in gubernatorial workplaces, state legislatures, or different public workplaces. Fellows will share what they study throughout state contexts all through the fellowship yr and kind a cohort to foster continued development and help for program alumni.
“The sources and expertise of the NAM, the cohort nature of this program, and the contacts and context supplied by the state companions make this a singular alternative for distinctive mid-career well being professionals,” mentioned Gregg Margolis, director of the NAM’s Well being Coverage Fellowships and Management Applications, in an announcement. “We’re grateful to our state companion organizations for seeing the unbelievable potential on this effort and sit up for the SHPF program turning into a everlasting a part of the NAM fellowship portfolio.”
