Public Policy Roadmap
SBM Health Policy Committee Releases Policy Brief
Representing many of the nation’s leading tobacco control scientists, and clinical and public health practitioners, the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) and the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (SRNT) welcome the historic June, 2011 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule on new warning labels for cigarettes. In response to this new rule, SBM and SRNT have released the brief, SBM and SRNT Urge Increased Funding of Quitlines and Research to Maximize Public Health Benefits of 1-800-QUIT-NOW on Cigarette Packs.
With this new rule, the United States will join more than 18 countries across the world that include quitline telephone numbers along with hard-hitting graphic messages as part of the health warning labels for tobacco products. These enhanced health warnings with the quitline number are designed to discourage more nonsmokers from starting to smoke, to encourage more smokers to quit, and to increase their use of evidence-based tobacco cessation services available at no-cost from state quitlines.
Read the full brief (PDF).
The good news is that anyone – not only Health Policy Committee members – can identify a need for a policy brief and bring it to the attention of the Committee. View the flow chart depicting the policy brief development process. If you see such a need, contact SBM’s executive director, Amy Stone, at astone@sbm.org.
SBM Stepping Into the Public Policy Arena!
Developments in healthcare reform and congressional pressure on the National Institutes of Health (and the researchers they fund) demonstrate how scientific advances influence the health of the nation provide exciting opportunities for our Society to achieve our vision of better health through behavior change. Recently, SBM President Karen M. Emmons, PhD, engaged the Board of Directors in identifying areas where our Society could contribute, at the public policy level, to improving health through advances in behavioral medicine. To shed light on possibilities warranting SBM attention, the Board entered into a limited engagement with a public affairs firm in Washington, DC, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough. Two of its senior staffers prepared a detailed analysis of public policy opportunities that fit with SBM’s mission, expertise, and structure. A briefing was then conducted during the Board’s October 2010 meeting. Subsequently, the Board adopted three public policy focus areas:
- Shaping Healthcare Reform
- Weighing in on Hot Topics
- Enhancing SBM’s National Visibility
Public Policy Leadership Group will Help SBM Reach Policy Goals
Dr. Emmons has formed a Public Policy Leadership Group to help the Society meet its public policy goals. Group members comprise SBM members Paul A. Estabrooks, PhD; Kathy J. Goggin, PhD; SBM President-Elect Abby C. King, PhD; Sherry Pagoto, PhD; Lori Pbert, Ph.D, and SBM’s executive director Amy Stone. This group has established two “action teams” – a Diabetes and Obesity Action Team led by Sherry Pagoto, PhD, and a VA/VHA Action team led by Sara A. Knight, PhD. Each team will review briefing materials prepared by the Nelson Mullins strategists and identify action steps. Steps could include developing new policy briefs, tracking legislation, issuing Board-approved letters to editors and policy makers, and forming or enhancing working relationships and communications with health policy advocacy groups. Check back for updates!
Most recently, the Public Policy Leadership Group published an article in SBM's policy journal: Translational Behavioral Medicine: Practice, Policy Research. The article, "The Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) and public policy advocacy: a call to action" discusses the importance of behavioral medicine presence in public policy initiatives, reviews a brief history of SBM’s involvement in public policy, describes steps SBM is now taking to increase its involvement in health-related public policy, and finally, puts forth a call to action for SBM members to increase their awareness of and become involved
in public policy initiatives.
SBM’s Health Policy Committee Leading a Push to Include Behavioral Measures in Electronic Health Records
Taking advantage of a new federal emphasis on adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs), SBM’s Health Policy Committee (HPC) is teaming up with NCI, OBSSR, and other NIH Institutes to include a core set of behavioral and psychosocial measures in EHRs. To date this group has reached out to such national projects working to advance the best use of health information technology, including the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the National Quality Forum, and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measure System (PROMIS). Plus, the group engaged experts in the field to develop a set of brief, practical, and actionable candidate measures across a number of behavioral domains - each of which can be reviewed and commented on through the use of a Grid-Enabled Measures (GEM) web tool. We encourage all SBM members (and non-members!) to join the discussion.
Following the review and comment period, a successful workshop/town hall meeting took place May 2, 2011, bringing together scientists, practitioners, policy makers, and patient/consumer representatives to review the comments and make recommendations on standard measures for behavioral and psychosocial screening in primary care and public health settings. At a closed session meeting of key stakeholders on May 3, 2011, final recommendations were discussed based on feedback obtained from GEM and the town hall. Read the full executive summary of the May 2-3 meetings to learn details of the discussions as well as the final recommendations.
Moving forward, organizers and key stakeholders will develop strategies to build support and implement plans to advance the adoption and incorporation of the recommended set of measures in adult primary care and public health EHRs.
