50-state survey

Despite the Affordable Care Act mandate that all hospitals and entities that participate in federal healthcare programs develop financial assistance policies (FAPs), many patients are either unaware of the existence of financial assistance programs or overlook the forms or information that different healthcare entities provide related to their FAPs. The adoption of a uniform application for hospital-based financial assistance programs has the potential to increase patient awareness, enrollment, and utilization of FAPs. This 50-state survey provides an overview on the adoption of uniform applications for hospital FAPs across the country, and highlights some of the mechanics of these uniform application requirements.

Registered professional school nurses are uniquely positioned at the intersection of student health and education; they are trained to understand the complexity of the relationship between physical and mental wellbeing and academic achievement. This survey details the services, by state, that school nurses are permitted to provide.

This resource summarizes the characteristics of naloxone access and Good Samaritan laws in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The lack of private and public health insurance coverage for doula services limits access to doula care principally to those who can afford to pay out-of-pocket. This 50-state survey outlines state laws regulating doula certification, care, and coverage, and sheds light on opportunities and challenges to using doulas to improve maternal health outcomes.

Overdose Good Samaritan laws can offer immunity from legal prosecution to those who seek emergency help for someone overdosing and are associated with an approximate 15 percent reduction in overdose deaths. This resource provides information on Good Samaritan laws in each of the states where they exist.

Contaminants including fentanyl and fentanyl analogs are now present in the illicit drug supply throughout the U.S. Because no safe supply of most illicitly used drugs is available, helping people determine what is in the drugs they obtain can be an impactful harm reduction intervention. The easiest and most inexpensive way to accomplish this is often through use of fentanyl test strips and xylazine test strips. This resource outlines the legality of drug checking equipment in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Access to food is an important social determinant of health, necessary to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. More than 40 million people in the U.S. report being food insecure, many of whom are children. Food donation laws can reduce food waste and improve food security. This resource highlights laws promoting food donation in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

This fact sheet provides information on Pennsylvania's Act 139, which provides limited immunity to overdose victims and bystanders that seek medical help, and increases accesss to naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

This survey of state laws outlines how the legal landscape in each state may affect access to harm reduction services and supplies.

Midwives play a critical role in reducing maternal mortality and many states have made an effort to expand the number of midwives by allowing the licensure of “direct entry” midwives who may be credentialed despite not having a formal nursing education. This resource provides a summary of laws in all states and the District of Columbia regulating direct entry, including training requirements for licensure, the state regulatory body, and what medications midwives can administer while practicing.

The Network examined whether states and Washington, D.C., have criminal statutes to address individuals who impede public health officials’ duties with such behavior. This 50-state resource outlines these statutes.

We conducted a systematic legal review to determine the prevalence and characteristics of state laws that require some or all hospital emergency departments to create protocols to screen patients for substance use disorder as well as those that require that hospitals take specific actions when providing care to such individuals or individuals who have experienced an overdose.