July 11, 2024

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July 11, 2024

AMCHP Announcements

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Deadline Approaching: Last Chance to Complete the 2024 AMCHP Membership Assessment!

Graphic promoting AMCHP's 2024 Membership Assessment, Reopened. Check your inbox and share your feedback by July 12.

Attention AMCHP Members – Your opinion matters!

As you may know, earlier this year, AMCHP sent out our first Member Assessment since 2021. We know some of you have already completed the assessment, and for this, we express our sincerest gratitude. If you have not yet completed this year’s Membership Assessment, you now have another opportunity to do so since we have reopened the assessment until July 12.

Why did we reopen the assessment?

The Membership Assessment is how we, as an organization, hear from you about what we are doing well, what we could improve upon, and what you need that we are not yet providing.

The initial response rate for the assessment this year was not robust enough for us to use the results with confidence, which is why we are providing this additional opportunity to complete it. It is essential that we hear from you, AMCHP’s membership, so that we can calibrate our approach as we work through our Strategic Map and Implementation Plan for AMCHP Future 2027.

Please consider spending 20-25 minutes completing the assessment by July 12 so that we can hear your voice as we work towards our shared goals.

If you are a member and did not receive an email from the 2024 Membership Assessment asking you to complete it, please send an email to epieval@amchp.org to receive a link to the assessment.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to AMCHP, and we are eager to hear from you!

AMCHP Announced 2024 Board of Directors Election Results

On Monday, July 1, AMCHP announced that our Board of Directors recently elected a new slate of officers and welcomed one new member. These Board members began serving on June 13, 2024.

Transitions, re-elections, and new appointments to the Board include Marcus Allen (President), Dawn Bailey (President-Elect), Lisa Asare (Past-President), Rachel Hutson (Secretary), Marcus Johnson-Miller (Treasurer), Leah J. Woodall (Region III Director), Jacqueline Johnson (Region IV Director), Jennie Munthali (Region VIII Director), and Belinda Pettiford, to whom AMCHP extends its gratitude and appreciation for her commitment to the organization over the past years, as she transitions off from her role as Past-President to the Board. With these changes, AMCHP’s Board of Directors will comprise sixteen members.

“On behalf of the AMCHP Board of Directors, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to this outstanding group of new officers,” said Marcus Allen, newly appointed President of AMCHP’s Board of Directors. “Their expertise, years of experience in the maternal and child health field, and motivation to join the AMCHP Board of Directors are of true value as we continue supporting AMCHP and its mission of advancing the health of women, children, youth, families, and communities and centering health equity.” [continue reading]

Recent AMCHP Announcements

AMCHP Annual Conference

Thank you to the more than 1,300 maternal and child health (MCH) leaders and thinkers who joined us for our 2024 AMCHP Annual Conference, making this event again one of the largest gatherings of MCH professionals in the United States.

Save the date for AMCHP 2025! Subscribe to our Annual Conference Newsletter to be the first to receive updates and information about AMCHP 2025, and share the subscribe link with your peers!

Revisit AMCHP 2024 Live-Streamed Content Available on the Conference Platform

Do you wish to revisit your favorite session or engage with the live content you might have missed at AMCHP 2024? Live-streamed session recordings are now available on the conference platform, including all three plenary sessions.

For one year, registered participants of AMCHP 2024 will have access to all the on-demand content, live plenary sessions, workshops, and more! Visit the conference platform, log in with your access key, and continue to be inspired by all the outstanding speakers and participants this year on your own time. You can also visit our blog and podcast page to revisit some significant milestones of AMCHP 2024.

Mark Your Calendars! The Call for Proposals for AMCHP 2025 Opens August 1

Mark your calendars! Our AMCHP 2025 call for proposals will open on August 1 for workshops, posters, skills sessions, and roundtables.

Our conference planning committee has already started discussing a meaningful and impactful theme for AMCHP 2025, and we look forward to sharing it with you soon! Be sure to subscribe to our conference email list to be one of the first to receive updates.

AMCHP Mental Health Corner

AMCHP Celebrates National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

July is Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. Bebe Moore Campbell was a mental health advocate, author, journalist, & teacher passionate about Black mental health. We encourage you to listen to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast to learn the history of this observance and explore Mental Health America’s 2024 BIPOC Mental Health Toolkit for free, practical resources.

Throughout history, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities have carved out systems of support to sustain collective well-being. Take time this month to explore mental health resources created by BIPOC communities. Here are a few podcasts to get you started:

All My Relations: Learn more about relational approaches to wellness in Indigenous communities.
Birthright: Hear stories of joy and healing in Black birth.
Latinx Therapy: Tune in to discussions about mental health issues facing Latinx communities.
Stories of Stigma: South Asian Mental Health: Listen to conversations intended to remove stigma and improve awareness.

Mental health is an important component of well-being for maternal, child, and adolescent health populations. Read more about AMCHP’s organizational work on mental health and substance use and our Commitment to Workplace Well-Being.

Interested in receiving more information on what’s happening related to mental health/substance use and MCAH? Sign-up for the PRISM Digest, our monthly mental health/substance use newsletter, by emailing jsimon@amchp.org, and check out the #AMCHPMentalHealth hashtag on Twitter. Have questions or want to learn more? Contact the mental health team at mentalhealth@amchp.org.

Legislation & Policy

Explore our Maternal & Child Health Bill Tracker for more information about pending federal legislation to improve maternal health. Also, download AMCHP’s 2024 Federal Policy Agenda outlining where we are focusing our advocacy work this year.

Subscribe to AMCHP’s Legislative Alerts and Policy Digest to stay up to date with the latest policy information.

ICYMI: SCOTUS Misses Opportunity to Affirm EMTALA’s Protections, Leaving Pregnant Patients in Uncertainty

On June 27, AMCHP’s Chief of Policy and Government Affairs, Sherie Lou Santos, issued the following statement in response to the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, in the consolidated cases of Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States:

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed these cases as ‘improvidently granted’ – meaning the Court determined the district court should render a decision before higher courts weigh in. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that she is disappointed the Court did not decide this case on the facts, writing ‘Today’s decision is not a victory for pregnant patients in Idaho…[P]regnant people experiencing emergency medical conditions remain in a precarious position, as their doctors are kept in the dark about what the law requires.’ [continue reading]

Statement by AMCHP CEO Terrance E. Moore on the Supreme Court Ruling in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA

On June 13, AMCHP’s CEO, Terrance E. Moore, issued the following statement in response to the opinion by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA.

While the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) is relieved that access to mifepristone was preserved by today’s unanimous Supreme Court decision, we remain concerned that the door has been left open for further challenges to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) approval of mifepristone more than 20 years ago. Currently, there are cases before lower court judges seeking to rescind or limit mifepristone’s approval. These cases are primed to overcome the hurdles that prevented the Supreme Court from taking strong action today. Additionally, states continue to develop novel strategies intended to restrict access to medication abortion, including by listing both mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances, the same categorization as prescription opioids and amphetamines. [continue reading]

AMCHP Policy and Partnerships Town Halls

Thank you to those of you who joined us for our last AMCHP Policy and Partnerships Town Hall! You can find the full recordings of past Town Halls on our Government Affairs webpage.

Town Halls occur on the second Thursday of every month from 2-3pm ET, including today, July 11. We invite you to register for all future Town Halls at this registration link.

Opportunities & Funding

AMCHP Career Center: Connecting Talent with Opportunity

AMCHP lists the top jobs available in our industry. Access the AMCHP Career Center to search and apply for open positions or post your jobs and opportunities! Search for Jobs | Post a Job.

Partner Events & Webinars

2024 Public Health Law Summit: Taking Action on Maternal and Reproductive Health

Registration for the Network for Public Health’s 2024 Summit for Action on Maternal and Reproductive Health is open!

This event will bring together public health leaders and practitioners, legal experts, and community advocates to drive actionable changes in maternal and reproductive health policies and practices. Attendees will learn about best practices and innovative approaches to addressing disparities in maternal and reproductive health and will leave with resources and essential insights to bolster their advocacy and advance their efforts to secure reproductive health care for all. For more information and to register, visit the Network for Public Health Law’s webpage.

Publications & Resources

New Connecting to Coverage Coalition Policy Paper on Medicaid Unwinding

AMCHP is pleased to be a member of the Connecting to Coverage Coalition, which has released a new policy paper that outlines actionable recommendations to help children and families maintain Medicaid and CHIP coverage. Ensuring continuous coverage for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries is more important than ever, now that millions have lost coverage due to the post-COVID “unwinding” process.

Learn how these recommendations can help reduce coverage gaps and improve health outcomes.

New Resource – TALK: Toolkit for Adolescent Care

The University of Minnesota’s Healthy Youth Development – Prevention Research Center (HYD-PRC) recently released the TALK: Toolkit for Adolescent Care, designed to help clinicians start conversations with young people about sensitive topics! This FREE, 1-page toolkit helps clinicians communicate with adolescent patients and their parents on a range of psychosocial and sexual health topics like healthy relationships, screen time and social media, bullying, and helping your teen navigate healthcare.

The training offers clinicians adaptable skills, scripts, and examples for communicating effectively with teens and their parents, as well as language and best practices for standardizing teens’ time alone with their primary care clinician. Formats range from a one-hour “Lunch and Learn” to multi-session offerings to build participants’ Motivational Interviewing skills – and identify opportunities to apply them – using supportive one-page TALK tools.

Implemented and tested in primary care clinics in greater Minnesota, this resource responds to clinicians’ stated needs, as identified by our earlier CDC-funded CASH study.

Now Available! 2024 KIDS COUNT Data Book: State Trends in Child Well-Being

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has published the 2024 KIDS COUNT Data Book, which can be viewed in interactive mode online or downloaded in its entirety.

The databook tracks child well-being across the United States along four domains: Overall Child Well-Being, Economic Well-Being, Education, Health, and Family & Community. Trends within and across domains, state indicator rankings, and comparisons between data years are provided. Explore this resource.