National Conference of State Legislatures Provides Nonpartisan Health Policy Information to Legislators and Staff
Forum for State Health Policy Leadership
Field of Work: Providing nonpartisan health policy information to state legislators and their staff members.
Problem Synopsis: State legislators tackle a wide range of health issues, including Medicaid, children's health insurance programs, public health, substance abuse treatment, regulation of for-profit health care organizations and the provision of long-term care. Lawmakers and their staff members have little time to master these issues. They may receive an overload of information on a particular area, but much of it can be biased because it comes from groups that have a stake in the outcome of legislation.
Synopsis of the Work: From July 2003 to April 2009, project staff at the National Conference of State Legislatures provided nonpartisan information on health care to state legislators and legislative staff. As part of the project, staff worked to expand the Forum for State Health Policy Leadership for new legislators.
Key Results: Project staff expanded the Forum for State Health Policy Leadership to reach 135 members in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Legislators and legislative staff reported that the project helped them to gain a clearer and deeper understanding of health policy issues, connect with legislators in other states to learn about what had and had not worked in health policy and gain access to unbiased information on health policy.