033017 Legislative Report, Rep. Rick Holman, ND District 20.

 

This week, I’d like to give you a little summary of what the North Dakota Department of Health does.

The Department has 380 employees and has a total budget of 200 million dollars.

 

The agency is going through a lot of changes but will continue with the many services that it provides.

A few days ago we voted to eliminate Breathe ND and transfer some of the duties, but not all to the Health Department. Some tobacco prevention and cessation programs  will be discontinued.

 

On Tuesday of this week, we voted to sever the Environmental Health Division from the Health Department and set it up as an independent entity.  Environmental Health will now be called Environmental Quality.

 

Also, because the voters of North Dakota approved Measure 5 last fall a new section is being added to set up to administer,  monitor and evaluate the medical marijuana program. 

 

Here is a list of the sub-agencies within the department.

 

 

. Medical Services:

- Disease Control

- Forensics Examiner

 

. Health Resources:

- Food and Lodging

- Health Facilities

- Life Safety and Construction

- Medical Marijuana: (New)

 

 

 

 

. Community Health:

- Cancer Prevention and Control. 

- Children's Special Health. 

- Chronic Disease

- Family Health

- Injury Prevention

- Nutrition and Physical Activity

- Tobacco Control (Expanded)

 

 

 

 

. Emergency Preparedness and Response: 

- EMS

- Hospital Preparedness

- Public Health

 

. Environmental Health (New)

- Air Quality

- Laboratory Services

- Municipal Facilities

- Waste Management

- Water Quality

 

 

Here are some of the major accomplishments of the Health Department in the last two years.

•   Placed 32 health professionals in shortage areas.

•   Enrolled 5,438 people in NDQuits in FY 2016, 905 more than were enrolled in FY 2015.

•   Screened 1,320 women for breast and/or cervical cancer through Women’s Way local coordinating units and approved providers. Facilitated 255 screens through patient navigation services for women that transitioned to Medicaid Expansion.

•   Provided funding to 20 domestic violence/rape crisis agencies to provide crisis intervention, shelter and other services to 1,041 primary victims of sexual assault, 5,356 new victims of domestic violence and 2,215 children impacted by domestic violence.

•   Provided suicide prevention funding of $840,000 to various agencies.

•   Provided 7,831 sealant applications and 5,687 fluoride varnish applications to students ages four through 18 in 42 schools statewide during the 2015-16 school year.

•   Provided 223 cribs to the Cribs for Kids Program sites, a statewide safe sleep education and crib distribution program for low-income families. The Cribs for Kids Program has distributed nearly 1,500 cribs to families in need since the program began in 2010.

•   Served 2,500 children with special health care needs and their families.

•   Added Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID) to the state newborn screening panel.

•   Achieved an adolescent vaccination rate for Tdap and meningococcal vaccinations of 92.1 percent and 91.8 percent, respectively.

•   Continued enhanced disease surveillance activity or investigations for three major infectious disease outbreaks including hepatitis C, syphilis and tuberculosis.

•   Distributed $8.2 million in grants to ambulance services and hospitals.

•   Continued to maintain high compliance rates above national levels for all environmental health regulatory programs while responding to increased needs related to the energy industry.

•   Reviewed approximately 1,650 environmental spill reports since July 1, 2015 by conducting field investigations, remediation oversight and enforcement.

•   Developed and implemented the Food and Lodging Licensure Information Management System.

•   Coordinated Ebola and Zika virus response with key state stakeholders.

This is just a small snapshot of the services provided by the North Dakota Department of Health. As you can see, they provide services that touch a lot of people. 

 

Next week I'll have more on the end of session actions that are happening. 

Thanks for listening.  Rep. Rick Holman.