Professors John Jacobi and Tara Ragone Expand their Regulatory Reform Work on Several Fronts with New CDC Grant

They are heading the Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law’s work as key partners in the execution of a new grant from the CDC: Community Health Workers (CHW) for COVID Response and Resilient Communities. Through this three-year grant, they will work with state agency and private sector partners to deploy CHWs in prisoner reentry, behavioral health, and FQHC settings.

In conjunction with the CHW expansions under the CDC grant, Professors Jacobi and Ragone will continue to work with state agency and private sector partners on regulatory reform in support of financing of the work of CHWs and other traditional workers through Medicaid and other governmental sources.

Professors Jacobi and Ragone have received new grant funding from the Burke Foundation to advance the adoption of Zero To Three’s HealthySteps program in pediatrics offices. HealthySteps is a dyadic program that identifies, treats, and refers for social supports infants with learning delays and psychological concerns, and assists their caregivers’ responses to depression and other post-partum issues. The program encourages the transformation of practices to achieve preventive behavioral health services in parity with preventive physical health services. Professors Jacobi and Ragone will continue their regulatory efforts toward licensing and sustainability for infant behavioral health programs.