Note: This Issue Brief was updated in March 2023 to reflect changes to the Pennsylvania policy landscape with the enactment of the Expedited Partner Therapy Act.  Rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are at an all-time high, a trend that has only been exacerbated by the…

The effects of poverty on child health have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent economic recession, magnifying the urgency for pediatric healthcare institutions to effectively address patients’ unmet social needs. Simultaneously, there is increasing policy and…

The burden of asthma disproportionately affects minority and low-income communities, resulting in racial and socioeconomic disparities in asthma prevalence, asthma exacerbations, and asthma-related death. Social determinants of health are increasingly implicated as root causes of…

In May 2021, PolicyLab virtually convened more than 30 experts from across the United States for a workshop on state policy levers to address unmet social needs in the pediatric setting. This workshop grew out of a PolicyLab issue brief focused on ensuring that screening for unmet…

Over the course of the past year of the global COVID-19 pandemic, growing attention has focused on the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. The study by Racine and colleagues1 calls attention to a critical need that must be addressed to respond to the global…

PolicyLab responded to a request for information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding barriers in USDA programs and services; advancing racial justice and equity and support for underserved communities at USDA. In this letter, PolicyLab experts answer questions…

OBJECTIVES: To compare the effectiveness of care management combined with a patient portal versus a portal alone for communication among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: Randomized controlled trial conducted at 11 primary care practices. Children…

Between April and June 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 29.5% of children in the US, predominantly from low-income families and racial and ethnic minority groups, experienced household food insecurity.1 The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and…

US youth suicide rates are increasing in recent years, especially in Black Americans, the reasons for which are unclear. Environmental adversity is key in youth suicidality, hence there is a need to study stressors that disproportionately impact Black youths. We aimed to disentangle…

In the last decade, there has been a robust increase in research using financial incentives to promote healthy behaviors as behavioral economics and new monitoring technologies have been applied to health behaviors. Most studies of financial incentives on health behaviors have focused…