Authors

Based at the Temple University Beasley School of Law, the Center for Public Health Law Research supports the widespread adoption of scientific tools and methods for mapping and evaluating the impact of law on health. It works by developing and teaching public health law research and legal epidemiology methods (including legal mapping and policy surveillance); researching laws and policies that improve health, increase access to care, and create or remove barriers to health (e.g., laws or policies that create or remove inequity); and communicating and disseminating evidence to facilitate innovation.
Suboxone.

Five Opportunities to Use the Law to Address Persistent OUD Treatment Gaps 

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By Jon Larsen and Sterling Johnson

People who need opioid use (OUD) treatment in the United States are often not receiving it — at least two million people with OUD are experiencing a treatment gap that prevents or hampers their ability to receive life-saving care and support. This reality reflects structural, policy, and legal misalignments common to the entire U.S. health care system, but that are especially present for behavioral health needs like substance use, and are exacerbated by other challenges related to stigma, lack of employment, and fragmented or nonexistent care coordination.  

With support from the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE), public health law experts from Indiana University McKinney School of Law and the Temple University Center for Public Health Law Research at the Beasley School of Law recently embarked on a systematic review of U.S. drug policy using a whole-of-government (W-G) approach to assess where these misalignments are occurring among different agencies at the same level of government (referred to as horizontal W-G), and across different levels of government (referred to as vertical W-G). It ultimately provides a tool to address these misalignments directly. 

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BOSTON, MA, USA - JULY 8, 2020: Close-up of Harriet Tubman Statue in Boston's South End neighborhood.

Legislating Black History

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By Sterling Johnson

Not since the 1960s have we seen the terms of Black history been this contested among legislators and school districts. Three years after the George Floyd riots and our own national reckoning, we continue to watch explicit attacks on the teaching of critical race theory, but also more integration of Black history into the national story — with Florida’s legislative history serving as a primary landscape for this cultural battle.

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Public toilet that is bright and clean with a male-female sign and the toilet for the disabled is clearly distinguished.

Trans-antagonism Creates Space for the Worst Side of the Law

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By Adam Herpolsheimer

By no means the first foray into gender identity-based discrimination, the legacy of North Carolina’s HB2 (2016) — known colloquially as the bathroom bill — is one we cannot shake. The law has since been repealed but was ultimately a turning point for what was possible in terms of legal action against the trans community. HB2 was particularly bothersome and ill-advised because of the legal mechanism it used to achieve its goals: preemption.

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Black and white exterior of Legislative chambers of Washington State with inscription and pillars.

Tracking Public Health Authority Changes from 2021 & 2022 Legislative Sessions

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By Temple University Center for Public Health Law Research

COVID-19 called for quick, decisive action by public health authorities to support communities and prevent infections. Since the pandemic began, legislators around the country have been acting to change the way authorities may respond to future public health emergencies — expanding or limiting officials’ authority to act in an emergency, changing who has authority to act, and the actions they may have the authority to take.

New research by the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, in collaboration with the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials and the Network for Public Health Law, capture details of legislation that addresses emergency health authority introduced between January 1, 2021, and May 20, 2022, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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Author Q&A: Hilary Wething on US Paid Sick Leave Policy Impacts

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By Temple University Center for Public Health Law Research

Hilary Wething, PhD, is an assistant professor of public policy and a Jackman-McCourtney Early Career Professor at Penn State University. Her research examines the relationship between economic volatility and labor market policy, household decision-making, and social safety-net programs.

Dr. Wething’s research published in the Journal of Public Health Policy investigates the impact of the generosity, inclusion, and autonomy of state paid sick leave laws on influenza-like-illness (ILI) rates and its components using data from the Centers for Disease Control and CPHLR’s data on state-level paid sick leave statues.

We asked Dr. Wething a few questions about this work.

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Woman with face mask getting vaccinated.

The Right Tool for the Job: Supporting Vaccination Rates with Universal Paid Sick Leave

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By Alina Schnake-Mahl, Rebecca Finkel, and Jennifer Kolker

Policies like paid sick leave are key tools to prevent another “winter of death” and disruption, finds our recent study of U.S. cities’ sick leave and vaccination data. Further, universal paid sick leave policies are particularly effective at protecting the most vulnerable communities.

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An armed guard surveys the grounds from the railing of a prison watchtower.

Surveying US Correctional Facilities’ Pandemic Policies on Medication for Opioid Use Disorder

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By Laura Hannon and Alex Willhouse 

An estimated 65 percent of the United States prison population has an active substance use disorder (SUD). Providing comprehensive substance use treatment to incarcerated individuals has been shown to reduce both drug use and crime upon release. Treatment is a critical intervention to prevent opioid overdose deaths, which the CDC estimates increased by 15.4 percent, from 70,029 in 2020 to approximately 80,816 in 2021. Medications like methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone are an important part of a comprehensive approach to addressing opioid use disorder (OUD).  

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Suboxone.

Prior Authorization Insurance Requirements: A Barrier to Accessing Lifesaving Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder?

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By Juan M. Hincapie-Castillo and Amie J. Goodin

Policies to mitigate the drug overdose crisis continue to fall short, as evidenced by increasing rates of opioid-involved overdoses and deaths in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this overdose crisis, and efforts are urgently needed to mitigate harm.

Individuals who have problematic opioid use are most frequently involved in opioid-involved overdoses, meaning that the use of a prescription opioid, or much more commonly a non-prescription opioid (such as non-medically sourced fentanyl or heroin), is used in a way that adversely affects the person’s life. Problematic opioid use may lead to a diagnosis of opioid use disorder (OUD). The medication buprenorphine has been proven to reduce opioid-involved overdose and harms and is one of few OUD treatments available as a prescription that can be dispensed by community pharmacies rather than from specialized facilities or specialty providers.

The federal government and several states have implemented strategies to improve and promote OUD treatment access, especially for the relatively inexpensive and effective medication buprenorphine. However, there are significant barriers that remain that preclude adequate and timely access to buprenorphine.

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Bill of Health - American currency (50, 100, 20) on a wooden table next to pills and spilling bottle of pharmaceuticals

Many Hospitals Receiving Discounted Drugs May Not Offer Patients Pharmaceutical Assistance

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By Amy Cook, JD, Jonathan Larsen, JD, MPP, and Sabrina Ruchelli, JD

Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act requires that pharmaceutical manufacturers give discounts on specified outpatient drugs to certain covered entities who typically serve low-income or otherwise underserved patients, including hospitals and clinics.

However, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), there are no measures built into the program to assure that 340B program discounts are being used to support care for low-income populations, let alone to improve access to medicines discounted through the program.

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Serving trays with delicious food on table. Concept of school lunch.

New Data Reveal Sparse Protections for Students Who Cannot Pay for Meals at School

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By Temple University Center for Public Health Law Research

As a federal program to serve meals to all U.S. public school students during the COVID-19 pandemic ends on June 30, the consequences of unpaid school meal debt will resurface for the millions of students nationwide facing food insecurity.

New data released on LawAtlas.org capture details of state unpaid school meal policies and reveals sparse and variable protections for students who cannot pay for meals at school.

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