Health Policy Commons^™

Advocacy Spotlight: Are You An Advocate?, Vincent Benivegna Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Advocacy is crucial for dentists in Michigan, as they face a unique opportunity to impact Medicaid dental benefits positively. Governor Gretchen Whitmer's budget proposal for 2023 includes a substantial $240 million investment to revamp dental Medicaid benefits, a historic move for the state. The Michigan Dental Association (MDA) has actively engaged with government offices and legislators to ensure this opportunity is not missed. However, despite the MDA's efforts to mobilize members through action alerts, response rates have disappointed. The article emphasizes the importance of consistent advocacy, as it has the power to influence dental practices and the well-being of patients …

The 2025 Michigan State Oral Health Plan, Ellen Sugrue Hyman Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This feature article explores the 2025 Michigan State Oral Health Plan (SOHP), a comprehensive initiative developed by the Michigan Oral Health Coalition (MOHC) and a statewide coalition, including the Michigan Dental Association (MDA). With a focus on enhancing oral health for all Michigan residents, the SOHP prioritizes addressing economic and racial disparities. The plan, guided by three key goals—Increasing Awareness and Education, Dental-Health Integration, and Access and Infrastructure—aims to improve oral health outcomes. The article discusses the plan's development process, key findings highlighting existing disparities, workforce challenges, and the strategic implementation of the SOHP through collaborative efforts and workgroups.

Food Justice As Crime Prevention, Avi Brisman

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In December 2008, Governor David Paterson (D-NY) proposed an 18 percent tax on nondiet sodas and fruit drinks containing less than 70 percent natural fruit juice. While the tax was part of a broader budget proposal designed to address New York State's fiscal crisis - a plan that that included new taxes and tax hikes on 137 items and services' - state officials promoted the "obesity tax," as the soft drink levy came to be called, as a public health measure.

Constitutional Foundations For Public Health Practice: Key Terms And Principles, Fazal Khan, Marice Ashe

Scholarly Works

This chapter introduces the structure of the government in the United States and the concept of “separation of powers" among the federal, state, and local governments. It introduces core legal principles from the U.S. Constitution that frame the authority of the government to enact and enforce laws to protect and promote the public's health. These Constitutional principles are essential for the health advocate and leader to understand because every federal, state, and local law must comply with them. The core principles include the enumerated powers of the federal government and the broad plenary powers of state and local governments—which we …

The “Green Patent Paradox” And Fair Use: The Intellectual Property Solution To Fight Climate Change, Samuel Cayton

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

As the climate crisis consistently worsens, the United States’ response to the crisis has proven inconsistent. Even with the United States likely to recommit to the Paris Climate Agreement, political tensions will likely further delay a climate response. The polarized characterization of the Green New Deal, the inaction of scientifically misguided conservatives, and the incessant proposal for middle ground approaches lacking the urgency needed to change course all contribute to this delay. While swift action from the federal government is needed, looking to the private sector to transition to sustainability is equally important. Specifically, patent protection is a strong intellectual …

Paradise Found? Food Transportation Regulation: A Detour Through Regulatory Purgatory, William Nash

Journal of Food Law & Policy

On January 31, 2014, the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NPRM") that would set requirements for shippers, carriers and receivers of food transported in intrastate and interstate commerce. The NPRM marks a potentially important step in a long history of the (non-)regulation of food transportation. In Parts I and II, this paper will provide some context of the history of food transportation, as well as the major incidents that placed the food transportation industry on the regulatory map. In Parts III and IV, the paper will consider the history of food transportation regulation from …

Adoption Process For The Model Aquatic Health Code: An Example, William D. Ramos, Allison L. Fletcher, Mike Mettler, Marcus A. Yoder

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

In 2014 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the first edition of the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC). This document represented the inaugural introduction of a federal policy guideline with a direct focus in the area of aquatic venue operation and maintenance with the sole purpose of improving the nature of public health in the field. The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) began the review and adoption process soon after the policy’s release. The ISDH process is proposed as one method for others to consider. The background and history of the MAHC are presented in …

Gun Violence: Chicago, Illinois, Kayla Dillon

Global Issues in Public Health

Gun violence has been, and continues to be, a significant problem in Chicago, Illinois. There have been several programs in place that have worked towards improving the level of gun violence. One of the most noticeable being Project Safe Neighborhood, which began in 2001. Part of what makes these programs, and programs similar to it, necessary is that it targets the populations most at-risk of gun violence. By targeting these specific regions of the city, these programs can provide the resources necessary to improve the condition of the city in the long-term, as well as prevent the condition from spreading …

The Emerging Zika Pandemic: Enhancing Preparedness, Lawrence O. Gostin, Daniel Lucey

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Zika virus (ZIKV), a flavivirus related to yellow fever, dengue, West Nile, and Japanese encephalitis, originated in the Zika forest in Uganda and was discovered in a rhesus monkey in 1947. The disease now has “explosive” pandemic potential, with outbreaks in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas. Since Brazil reported Zika virus in May 2015, infections have occurred in at least 20 countries in the Americas. Puerto Rico reported the first locally transmitted infection in December 2015, but Zika is likely to spread to the United States. The Aedes species mosquito (an aggressive daytime biter) that …

No More Mind Games: Content Analysis Of In-Game Commentary Of The National Football League’S Concussion Problem, Jeffrey Parker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

American (gridiron) football played at the professional level in the National Football League (NFL) is an inherently physical spectator sport, in which players frequently engage in significant contact to the head and upper body. Until recently, the long-term health consequences associated with on the field head trauma were not fully disclosed to players or the public, potentially misrepresenting the dangers involved in gameplay. Crucial to the dissemination of this information to the public are in-game televised commentators of NFL games, regarded as the primary conduits for mediating in-game narratives to the viewing audience. Using a social constructionist theoretical lens, this …

Agenda: Fracking, Water Quality And Public Health: Examining Current Laws And Regulations, Network For Public Health Law, American Society Of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Public Health Law Research Program

Fracking, Water Quality and Public Health: Examining Current Laws and Regulations (March 20)

Improved technology developments in directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as "fracking," have resulted in an oil and gas production boom nationwide. Fracking involves pumping pressurized water, sand, and chemicals down wells to crack bedrock, freeing petroleum and natural gas. Wastewater discharges, hydraulic fracturing fluid releases, and other accidental spills pose potential water quality risks, sparking concern for public health.

This webinar will examine the laws and regulations governing water quality issues related to fracking, recent state court decisions affecting regulations, and implications for public health.

Slides: Best Management Practices For Oil And Gas Development And Comparative Water Quality Database Of Regulations Relating To Shale Oil And Gas, Matt Samelson, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment. Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project

Fracking, Water Quality and Public Health: Examining Current Laws and Regulations (March 20)

Presenter: Matt Samelson, J.D., Attorney, Consultant for Intermountain Oil and Gas Best Management Practices (BMP) Project, Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment, University of Colorado Law School

34 slides

Earth, Air, Water, Oil: Regulating Fracking In The Monterey Shale With Health And Environment In Mind, Gideon J. Salzman-Gubbay

Pomona Senior Theses

“Earth, Air, Water, Oil: Regulating Fracking in the Monterey Shale with Health and Environment in Mind,” explores how hydraulic fracturing regulation in California’s oil-rich Monterey Shale will impact regional public health, including groundwater and air quality. This is achieved through a combination of case study and policy analysis on both the state and national level.

Layers Of Law: The Case Of E-Cigarettes, Eric A. Feldman

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper, written for a symposium on "Layers of Law and Social Order," connects the current debate over the regulation of electronic cigarettes with socio-legal scholarship on law, norms, and social control. Although almost every aspect of modern life that is subject to regulation can be seen through the framework ‘layers of law,’ e-cigarettes are distinguished by the rapid emergence of an unusually dense legal and regulatory web. In part, the dense fabric of e-cigarette law and regulation, both within and beyond the US, results from the lack of robust scientific and epidemiological data on the behavioral and health consequences …

Intellectual Property And Public Health – A White Paper, Ryan G. Vacca, James Ming Chen, Jay Dratler Jr., Thomas Folsom, Timothy S. Hall, Yaniv Heled, Frank A. Pasquale Iii, Elizabeth A. Reilly, Jeffrey Samuels, Katherine J. Strandburg, Kara W. Swanson, Andrew W. Torrance, Katharine A. Van Tassel

Law Faculty Scholarship

On October 26, 2012, the University of Akron School of Law’s Center for Intellectual Property and Technology hosted its Sixth Annual IP Scholars Forum. In attendance were thirteen legal scholars with expertise and an interest in IP and public health who met to discuss problems and potential solutions at the intersection of these fields. This report summarizes this discussion by describing the problems raised, areas of agreement and disagreement between the participants, suggestions and solutions made by participants and the subsequent evaluations of these suggestions and solutions. Led by the moderator, participants at the Forum focused generally on three broad …

The Long-Term Coercive Effect Of State Community Benefit Laws On Hospital Community Health Orientation, Charles B. Moseley, Jay J. Shen, Gregory O. Ginn

Nevada Journal of Public Health

This study is an examination of the long-term coercive effect of state community benefit laws (CB Laws) on the provision of community health activities in U.S. acute care hospitals. The sample included all the not-for-profit and investor owned acute care hospitals for which 1994 and 2006 AHA Annual Survey data were available. A panel design was used to longitudinally examine the effect that state CB Laws had on hospital community health orientation activities and the provision of health promotion services, after controlling for the influence of other organizational and environmental variables that might affect these activities and services. The authors …

Fitness Tax Credits: Costs, Benefits, And Viability, Daniel M. Reach

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

As the number of overweight and obese Americans rises, it becomes increasingly clear that Americans need further incentives to stimulate lasting lifestyle changes. Tax incentives focused on exercise, which have been largely unexplored to this point, are an effective response to the growing obesity problem in the United States that would largely avoid the political opposition that tax policies focused on diet have encountered. In addition, they would also provide a more palatable solution for the taxpayer beneficiaries with a relatively low impact on government revenues. Viable tax incentives to encourage greater fitness include tax credits and sales tax breaks, …

Slides: Hydrofracking: Air Issues And Community Exposure, Debra A. Kaden

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Presenter: Debra Kaden, Ph.D., Toxicologist, ENVIRON International Corporation, discusses air concentrations of chemicals of potential health concern surrounding oil and gas development activities, as well as temporal and spatial patterns of these chemicals in the ambient environment. Such information is necessary to evaluate possible health impacts of the drilling process on air in surrounding communities.

19 slides

Challenges To Australia’S National Health Policy From Trade And Investment Agreements, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Recent federal trade policy commitments concerning the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations (against changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and against inclusion of an investor state provision) could protect Australia’s tobacco control legislation and Australia's sovereign capacity to regulate public health and environmental policy

Strengthening Security And Oversight At Biological Research Laboratories, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

With the advent of the Anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001, this Nation has been confronted with a serious policy conundrum. On the one hand, we have strengthened programs that encourage the use of our best scientific resources to develop countermeasures to the weaponization of highly dangerous biopathogens. On the other hand, research on those countermeasures requires the use of the very biopathogens we seek to defeat. There have been many mishaps in the handling of those pathogens, which raises the frightening prospect that the research may be as (or more) dangerous than the potential bioterrorist acts themselves. Indeed, …

Strengthening Security And Oversight At Biological Research Laboratories, Michael Greenberger

Congressional Testimony

With the advent of the Anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001, this Nation has been confronted with a serious policy conundrum. On the one hand, we have strengthened programs that encourage the use of our best scientific resources to develop countermeasures to the weaponization of highly dangerous biopathogens. On the other hand, research on those countermeasures requires the use of the very biopathogens we seek to defeat. There have been many mishaps in the handling of those pathogens, which raises the frightening prospect that the research may be as (or more) dangerous than the potential bioterrorist acts themselves. Indeed, …

Calibrating The Wealth And Health Of Nations: Trade, Health, And Foreign Policy After The Wto's First Decade, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

One of the most important themes to emerge from the relationship between trade and health in the first ten year's of the WTO's existence is the challenge of achieving policy coherence. This task is a foreign policy challenge for WTO Members, which requires looking at the relationship between trade and health against the backdrop of the making and implementing of foreign policy. Policy coherence has generally become a major concern for foreign policymakers because post-Cold War trends, such as accelerating globalization, seriously challenge traditional foreign policy assumptions, practices, and institutions. Part of this new context for foreign policy involves the …

Health And Foreign Policy, David P. Fidler, Nick Drager

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Health As Foreign Policy: Between Principle And Power, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Risk And Rationality: The Centers For Disease Control And The Regulation Of Hiv-Infected Health Care Workers, Mary Anne Bobinski

Faculty Articles

The publicity surrounding the Bergalis case has created a new and powerful fear for some-the fear of contracting a fatal disease while obtaining medical or dental care. Following Bergalis' congressional testimony, Congress passed a bill requiring states to regulate HIV-infected health care workers (HCWs). Responding to constituents' fears, state legislatures had already been debating a wide range of bills designed to confront the risk of HIV transmission in health care settings. Private actors, such as hospitals and insurers, feared litigation or loss of business if the public perceived them to be ignoring the problem of HIV infection among HCWs. As …