Building a Culture of Health: A Policy Roadmap to Help All New Jerseyans Live Their Healthiest Lives
Executive Summary
New Jersey has a lot to be proud of when it comes to health, including comparatively low rates of smoking, teen births, infant deaths, and premature deaths, and high rates of preschool enrollment and high school graduation. But there are also wide, persistent—and in some cases, growing—disparities across the state, even in the healthiest counties. These gaps particularly affect people who are poor and people of color, who are disproportionately impacted by discriminatory policies and practices that, over generations, have created barriers to good health. But just as policy actions can create unfair barriers, they also can be used to dismantle them.
Creating health equity through public policies is the focus of this new report, which recommends a comprehensive series of actions that will help to close health gaps, broaden opportunity, and ensure that everyone in New Jersey—no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they make—can live the healthiest life possible.
Background
- A series of comprehensive, equity-promoting policies are needed to ensure that everyone in New Jersey has a fair and just opportunity to be healthy. The recommended policy options featured in this report are intended to benefit everyone, particularly those who face the greatest barriers.
- To produce this policy report, RWJF partnered with the Center for State Health Policy (CSHP) and the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. The authors were also guided by a statewide advisory group.
- More than 300 New Jerseyans, including community residents, nonprofit and business leaders, and academicians, provided input to this report by participating in discussions held across the state. Thousands more state residents were surveyed about their health priorities and their responses also inform the report.
- Every recommended policy option in the report addresses pressing needs in the state, advances health equity, is supported by evidence, and was vetted for feasibility.
- Since our health is shaped by the places in which we live, learn, work, and play, the recommended policy options in this report span education, housing, nutrition, income, health care and more.
Policy Priorities and Recommended Policy Options
Building New Jersey’s Culture of Health requires equity-promoting policies focused on children and families, healthy communities, and high-quality health and social service systems. This report identifies 13 policy priorities for improving health and well-being in the state and recommends a series of specific evidence-based policy options to address these priorities.
Healthy Children and Families
Recommended Policy Options:
- Ensure that state strategic planning efforts are inclusive; address the health care, social, and community determinants of maternal and infant health; and fully incorporate the voices of women from marginalized communities.
- Address the full continuum of maternal and infant care and education, engaging all relevant types of providers.
- Reduce unplanned pregnancies by increasing availability and use of contraception, particularly long-acting reversible types.
- Increase the capacity and quality of home-visiting programs for new moms and their infants.
Recommended Policy Options:
- Leverage funding to boost awareness and use of paid family leave benefits.
- Simplify application and benefits administration processes and shorten claims process times.
- Consider enhancements to the existing paid leave benefit.
Recommended Policy Options:
- Enhance the ability of the New Jersey Division of Early Childhood Education to assist, monitor, and hold accountable school districts in implementing. high-quality, equitable, early education programs aligned with K-3 system.
- Pursue opportunities to steadily increase access to and enrollment in high-quality preschool programs for low-income children.
Recommended Policy Options:
- Increase uptake of the state and federal earned income tax credit (EITC).
- Consider enhancements to the state EITC.
- Evaluate the impacts of the state’s phased-in minimum wage increases on economic and health outcomes.
- Develop a strong plan for enforcing the state’s minimum wage increase.
Healthy Communities
Recommended Policy Options:
- Engage and empower community residents and organizations in housing and community development decision-making.
- Increase affordable housing production and preservation.
- Promote economic and racial diversity within communities.
- Continue to engage hospitals, health systems, and insurers in collaborative efforts to develop affordable housing for those most in need.
Recommended Policy Options:
- Maximize the use of the New Jersey Lead Hazard Control Assistance Fund for lead poisoning prevention efforts and target funding toward effective interventions.
- Seek additional federal support, including funding via the Children’s Health Insurance Program, to target lead prevention efforts to low-income children.
- Require all rental and owner-occupied properties be certified as lead-safe prior to turnover or sale and/or on a periodic basis.
Recommended Policy Options:
- Increase enrollment in and use of federal food assistance programs.
- Increase participation in federal free and reduced-price meal programs in schools.
- Improve availability and accessibility of fresh produce and healthy foods in communities.
Recommended Policy Options:
- Accelerate adoption and implementation of Complete Streets policies in localities, with a focus on health equity.
- Engage the metropolitan planning organizations in leveraging federal funds to support county and municipal transportation investments that promote health equity.
Recommended Policy Options:
- Consider substantial increases to state tobacco taxes.
- Dedicate a substantial portion of tobacco tax revenue to: a) state tobacco control programs with a focus on prevention and cessation for populations with high smoking rates, and b) other policy recommendations in this report that require funding.
High-Quality, Equitable Health and Social Service Systems
Recommended Policy Options:
- Enhance Medicaid managed care contract incentives and requirements to address people’s social needs.
- Support health systems and hospitals in addressing people’s health and social needs in the context of community.
- Enable state health care, public health, and social service funding streams to be aligned or combined to achieve common health and well-being goals.
- Elevate people’s voices in state health policy decisions.
Recommended Policy Options:
- Pursue integrated mental health, addiction, and physical health services for the entire Medicaid managed care population.
- Accelerate adoption of integrated health care models through stable funding streams.
- Further reform the New Jersey Department of Health’s licensure process and policies to enable more seamless provision of coordinated mental health and addiction services.
Recommended Policy Options:
- Move toward a “mobile-first” strategy, making program information and applications accessible and seamless through mobile technologies.
- Continue to advance easy access to a single application for all major health and social service programs.
- Encourage more widespread adoption of tele-health and ride-sharing services to ensure timely access to care for hard-to-reach populations.
Recommended Policy Options:
- Create an inter-agency well-being working group to provide statewide leadership on cross-sector collaboration.
- Assess the impact of major new legislation and regulation on health and well-being.
Conclusion
Using this policy roadmap as a guide, we call on leaders and residents to work with us to build a Culture of Health in New Jersey. For our part, RWJF will:
- Share the recommended policy options broadly and bring together diverse stakeholders, including policymakers, to explore how best to move forward.
- Explore ways to support adoption and implementation of the recommended policy options, including through research, communications, advocacy, and technical assistance activities.
- Measure progress by: observing the engagement levels of organizations and communities across the state in championing these policies, tracking which policies are adopted and how robustly they are implemented, and assessing the impact of these policies on health equity.
Related Content
Catchafire New Jersey
Free access to Catchafire, an online tool that matches nonprofit organizations with passionate professionals looking to donate their skills.
Creating a Shared Vision to Help Restore Atlantic City
Atlantic City demonstrates how cross-sector coalitions built on a foundation of trust are key to building healthier communities.
Achieving Health Equity
2-min read
