The National Governors Association (NGA) brought together more than 100 health policy leaders across the nation in Indianapolis this week to share best practices for improving health care service delivery.
The multi-state meeting, cohosted by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), brought together health policy leaders from executive and legislative branches and key state partners to discuss how to improve health care access in rural communities, maximize global integrated health and invest in crisis response.
“States are at the forefront of promoting innovative strategies to address health care workforce issues, health systems coordination, and access to care,” said Hemi Tewarson, director of NGA Health. “The meeting offered a tremendous opportunity for state leaders to share innovative practices and to identify solutions for their most pressing health issues.”
Twenty states and territories sent representatives to attend the meeting: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Northern Mariana Islands, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
“We are proud to host our peers from across the nation who share the common goal of making our communities healthier places to live, learn, work and play,” said Jennifer Walthall, M.D., M.P.H., secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. “We are honored to have the opportunity to highlight the extensive work underway in Indiana—from engaging our health care workforce to providing coverage for low income Hoosiers—Indiana is united in its goal to seek innovative ideas to improve health outcomes.”
“States are facing true challenges in the health care space, including competing budget priorities, workforce gaps and geographic disparities,” said Kate Blackman, health group director at NCSL. “At the meeting, legislative staff connected with their executive branch counterparts and identified actionable policy options to take home to their states.” “States across the nation are facing considerable health workforce challenges, especially in rural and frontier regions,” said Trish Riley, executive director of NASHP. “We are excited to be facilitating conversations on this critical topic along with our sister organizations, NGA and NCSL.” For more information about the NGA Health program, click here.
