Out now: we found increases in postpartum Medicaid coverage, ED visits, and behavioral health diagnoses during the COVID-19 continuous coverage provisions. Grateful for the support from @rwjf.org @academyhealth.bsky.social to partner with @ericaeliason.bsky.social and @maria-steenland.bsky.social

Erica Eliason@ericaeliason.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Excited for this new publication in Milbank Quarterly! Using Medicaid claims, @rgourevitch.bsky.social, @maria-steenland.bsky.social and I find that extended Medicaid during COVID-19 was associated with increases in postpartum coverage, ED visits, and behavioral health diagnoses tinyurl.com/yfmbxtwz

Excited for this new publication in Milbank Quarterly! Using Medicaid claims, @rgourevitch.bsky.social, @maria-steenland.bsky.social and I find that extended Medicaid during COVID-19 was associated with increases in postpartum coverage, ED visits, and behavioral health diagnoses tinyurl.com/yfmbxtwz

Extended Pregnancy Medicaid During COVID‐19 and Enrollment and Health Care Use in the Postpartum Year

Policy Points The continuous coverage provision of the March 2020 Families First Coronavirus Response Act resulted in extended postpartum Medicaid for individuals with pregnancy Medicaid coverage...

tinyurl.com

Now hiring: #Postdoc in Rural Maternal & Perinatal Health (#NIH U01) at USC @uscarnoldschool.bsky.social Seeking a scholar committed to #RuralHealth #MaternalHealth equity and high-impact #research dissemination. Apply: uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/201... @academyhealth.bsky.social @apha.org

Wisconsin just became the 49th state to adopt 12 months postpartum overage in Medicaid. Only state in the country that has not adopted this policy for new moms is … Arkansas… Congrats to our colleagues in Wisconsin @kidsforward.bsky.social who had been working on this for many years.

Wisconsin Legislators Finally Pass Lifesaving Postpartum Care for New Moms - Kids Forward

For Release: Thursday, February 19, 2026 Contact: Emily Miota, 262-853-6863 Today, the Wisconsin state assembly voted to ensure that new moms on Medicaid have health insurance for a year after giving ...

kidsforward.org

MEPS seems to be gone as of now. This is very bad. These are critical pieces of data about health care and they belong to the American public.

New article @jamanetworkopen.com showing cash during pregnancy ⬆️ prenatal care among women in Flint. Cash support to low-income families supports healthy babies & kids, but our current safety net falls short. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... @monahanna.bsky.social @michiganstateu.bsky.social

More CDC Cuts :: NCHS Edition 📊🔫 At least 1/3 of the staff at the National Center for Health Statistics has been cut (and remain cut). This is catastrophic for our nation’s health data. Say goodbye to national health statistics that you can trust, healthcare surveys, NHANES and data systems.

1/ #Policies shape our #health. But why? We usually think it has to do with how policies change material resources (e.g., access to food, health care, etc) and opportunities. In @nejm.org, we argue that policies can also affect health by shaping social #narratives. www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Public Policies, Social Narratives, and Population Health | NEJM

Public policies, by way of the social narratives they reinforce, can affect health by mechanisms that are independent of any effects on resources and opportunities.

nejm.org

Sharing some encouraging news re: CDC PRAMS. The CDC has indicated they will weight and clean the 2024 PRAMS data. Also, the PRAMS data collection system (PIDS) is up and running again and some sites have begun 2025 PRAMS data collection. Hopefully restoration of the ARF portal is coming soon too.

Heard from #AHRQ that the entire grants staff has been let go! They are unable to issue funds for grants already funded, let alone fund new grants. This is outrageous and will make Americans poorer and sicker. Why? A brief thread about just some recent AHRQ-funded research: #MedSky #HealthPolicy

Running back this class due to tech issues. 😭 If you're a director of graduate studies or a department chair: let me guess how you're feeling right about now. 1️⃣ You’re trying to support your job market candidates despite the uncertainty and chaos that academia is experiencing in this moment. 1/

Free Encore Master Class: Making Academic Job Talks Fun | LinkedIn

We had some tech issues so I'm running this back as an encore! Are you a grad student or postdoc stressing out about job talks? You’re wondering: Is it even worth trying given the attacks on our un...

linkedin.com

Ok folks, we know work requirements reduce benefits without increasing work (cc: @chloeneast.bsky.social) But who loses benefits and what happens if work requirements are reversed? New evidence from linked SNAP-Medicaid data and a natural experiment in CT tell a concerning story... Thread below 👇

Are you a grad student or postdoc stressing out about job talks? Join me on 6/26/25 at 2 PM CST for a free class. You'll learn how to: ✔️ Avoid the “Big 3” job talk killers ✔️ Use storytelling breath life into your research ✔️ Handle Q&A like a boss Register here and please share: lnkd.in/g5f3YwtX

Question for folks who are at Harvard or have colleagues/friends there. I'd like to know if your research is lost/ruined (as opposed to delayed/paused) by the NIH grant terminations. Can you shoot me a DM/chat?

In addition to defunding Planned Parenthood, the bill the House passed this a.m. includes a last-minute change that would make it difficult-to-impossible for private plans on the Obamacare exchanges to cover abortion. Some states, including NY and CA, require such coverage.

INCREDIBLE choose your own adventure project on chronic disease by the masterful @isabellacueto.bsky.social and @jaspar.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/05/20/k...

RFK Jr. declared war on chronic disease. First comes the battle over priorities

How would you solve the chronic disease epidemic? Here's STAT's extensive new data analysis, and nine ways to tackle the problem.

statnews.com

check it out: Jacqueline Gourevitch (whom I call mom), paintings 1965-2018 at storage gallery NYC, May 9-June21 — more info and images here: www.storageartgallery.com

JUST IN: ProPublica’s “Life of the Mother” series, which exposes the fatal consequences of abortion bans, has won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. This is the second consecutive year we’ve been awarded this distinction and our eighth Pulitzer: www.propublica.org/series/life-...

Average person may not realize what a big deal this is. #Data tracking maternal/child health (PRAMS), drug use & mental health (NSDUH), etc are being shuttered or severely restricted. These are often only national data on these health conditions, meaning we can't study helpful & harmful policies.

Joanne Spetz@joannespetz.bsky.social · last yr.

Important column by the brilliant Ninez Ponce at our sister center at UCLA on federal changes and disappearances to key public data. www.milbank.org/quarterly/op...

Women's Health Initiative defunded after 30 years and 5,000 publications www.whi.org/md/news/whi-...

4/20/2025

whi.org

A STAT EXCLUSIVE NIH moving to ban all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts, document suggests www.statnews.com/2025/04/21/t...

NIH moving to ban all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts, document suggests

NIH appears to be preparing to prohibit the awarding of new grants to institutions that have DEI programs or boycott Israeli companies

statnews.com

The U.S. maternal mortality rate increased 27% between 2018 and 2022, a new NIH study finds.

U.S. maternal mortality rate increased 27% over five years, NIH study finds

The U.S. maternal mortality rate increased 27% between 2018 and 2022, a new NIH study finds.

buff.ly

"ASPE had roughly 150 employees at the start of the year and now has fewer than 50, four former employees told STAT. AHRQ started the year with over 300 employees, and Tuesday’s cuts took out 111 of them, three laid-off workers told STAT." The details in this story are just awful.

Bob Herman@bobjherman.bsky.social · last yr.

The Trump administration has gutted ASPE and AHRQ, two small but influential agencies within HHS. “Devastating” cuts that impair federal health care research. Read more from @tarabannow.bsky.social and me: www.statnews.com/2025/04/02/t...

Among the many devastating losses of yesterday's HHS cuts: the entire CDC team that runs the PRAMS survey was placed on admin leave. This is a catastrophic risk to maternal and child public health surveillance. Grateful to @aniloza.bsky.social at @statnews.com for covering

Gold-standard maternal mortality database in limbo as CDC staff placed on leave

As part of the sweeping layoffs that rocked HHS, the entire staff that oversaw an annual survey to better understand infant and maternal health was placed on administrative leave.

statnews.com

anil oza@aniloza.bsky.social · last yr.

BREAKING: In the massive HHS RIFs today, one program that is now in limbo is PRAMS — the gold standard dataset for infant and maternal health in the US 🧪 #medsky www.statnews.com/2025/04/01/p...

This Reddit thread of people being laid off from HHS paints a picture of how the federal government's work on health will be curtailed. h/t: @samsteindc.bsky.social www.reddit.com/r/DeptHHS/co...

NEW: The NIH has begun terminating grants for active projects studying gender identity, DEI, environmental justice, climate change, among other topics. At least 16 termination letters have already been sent — and hundreds more are coming, people inside NIH tell me. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants

Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.

nature.com