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More expectant parents could qualify for home health care support, community health workers could get professional certification, and immigrant doctors could find an easier path to practicing in Georgia under proposals being considered by state legislators.
As the Georgia General Assembly session gets underway, bills are expected to address a number of public health policies and set the state’s spending plan.
Chaos at the federal level, as President Donald Trump takes office with moves to cut spending, are injecting uncertainty into the state’s budget process, health agency leaders said during a hearing this week.
Georgia Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey said her agency gets about half its funds from the federal government. Federal funds support the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, for example, as well as other maternal and child health, and HIV care programs.
Here are some of the public health proposals being considered in the legislative session, which runs through early April. These measures must get approval from a committee and then pass a floor vote in the chamber where they originated before “crossover day” on March 6 in order to move ahead.
Certification could improve training for community health workers
A community health worker helps facilitate care for people in their own community. They educate people about health issues and connect patients to resources.
A broad coalition of advocacy groups want the state to create a formal certification process for community health workers, and they’re optimistic the measure will pass, said Natasha Taylor, deputy director of Georgia Watch, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group.
The purpose is to regularize training for community health workers, and it could have both health and economic benefits, Taylor said. She called the certification program “a game-changer for workforce development.”
“By equipping CHWs with the skills and recognition they need, we are fostering career growth while strengthening the health and well-being of communities across the state,” Taylor said.
Taylor also wants to see Medicaid reimburse community health workers but says she and her allies are first focused on getting the certification legislation passed.
The measure has crucial Republican support, and a similar bill last year gained Senate committee approval but stalled before a floor vote.
“We need to look at the use of community health care workers also as a new area, a new idea. I think that can be beneficial,” Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville, the chairwoman of the House Health appropriations subcommittee, said at a health policy event earlier this month.
Licensing reforms seek to address doctor shortage
Georgia’s doctor shortage could be ameliorated by legislation making it easier for foreign-trained doctors to practice here.
Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain, last year sponsored a bill that would allow foreign-credentialed doctors who have met American medical standards to train at licensed health care centers and eventually apply to work in medically underserved communities.
Jackson plans to reintroduce the measure and said it has “very strong bipartisan support.”
“I have physicians right now, today, who are driving DoorDash, people who worked in their country, who perhaps even cared for our soldiers, who are not able to get licensed right now because we don’t have a pathway,” Jackson said.
Other states have adopted similar measures, and advocates of the proposal say that allowing immigrant physicians to practice in Georgia would help the state provide culturally and linguistically competent care to its diverse population.
DPH seeks to expand support for expectant parents
Some leaders want to expand a program to provide home visits to expecting and new parents to reduce maternal mortality and improve birth outcomes.
Since its launch in October 2023, the program has expanded to 50 counties. This year Gov. Brian Kemp and the Department of Public Health are requesting an additional $3 million to expand it to 75 counties.
The program targets women at risk for poor pregnancy outcomes, Diane Durrence, director of the Women, Children, and Nursing Services Division at DPH, said during a January DPH board meeting. Doctors, hospitals, and others can refer women to the program.
The home visits include physical and mental checks for women and infants, education about topics like safe sleep, and referrals to needed resources.
The program has served about 520 patients, with over 2,000 home visits completed, Durrence said. It employs about 39 home visiting staff.
Certification for ‘recovery residences’ among opioid, drug use bills
Several bills are expected that aim to help people with opioid and other substance use disorders, said Jeff Breedlove of the Georgia Council for Recovery.
Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, is expected to introduce a bill that would require certification for “recovery residences.” He introduced a similar bill in 2023 that did not advance.
Recovery residences would need to be inspected at least once every other year and would have to correct identified deficiencies.
“Unfortunately, there are bad actors, and so the Georgia Council for Recovery and the Georgia Association of Recovery Residences are working to make sure there’s legal safeguards in state law,” Breedlove said. “Those bad actors have got to face severe legal consequences when they exploit somebody in crisis.”
Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, wants to expand Georgians’ ability to test street drugs for dangerous additives. A 2023 reform made it clear that testing strips for fentanyl and other synthetic opioids do not fall under Georgia’s ban on drug paraphernalia. Kirkpatrick’s bill goes further, ensuring that Georgians can also test for non-opioid adulterants like Xyaline, a veterinary sedative found in illegal drugs.
Breedlove also wants to see legislators create a system for educating “life care specialists,” people who help patients in hospitals learn about and manage pain. That was the top recommendation of last year’s House study committee focused on alternatives to opioids for pain management.
“This exciting concept of expanding the presence of the peer voice during a crisis situation in the hospital - it’s going to save lives, and it’s going to save money, and it’s going to make Georgia a stronger place, medically,” Breedlove said.
Public health budget plan steady, but federal cuts could hurt
DPH’s $900 million budget pays for a wide range of services, from county health department operations to immunizations to vital records management.
Next year’s budget proposals would keep the agency’s spending plan at about the same as this year’s, with no dramatic decreases or additions.
About half of the public health budget comes from federal sources and half from state sources.
That means federal actions, like the sunsetting of Covid relief funds, or freezes like the one the Trump administration briefly ordered this week, can have a big effect.
Most of the federal funding comes from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, which pays for the WIC program.
While DPH’s total budget has decreased since the ending of federal Covid relief funds last year, state contributions have increased over the past four years.
The state funds pay for services provided at 18 district offices and 159 county health offices across Georgia. They also cover other services like health promotion, epidemiology, immunizations, and services like restaurant and pool inspections.
Three weeks into session, the General Assembly has started the lengthy process of updating this year’s budget, called “the amended fiscal year 2025 budget” in legislative parlance, and approving next year’s spending plant for fiscal 2026. The state’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.
The revised public health budget for fiscal 2025 would include an additional $270,000 to study the impact of social media on children and adolescent mental health in Georgia.
Toomey said the request came from Kemp. The agency plans to hire an epidemiologist for the study and work with researchers at Georgia Southern University and the University of Georgia to produce a report.
Some, like Leah Chan at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, an Atlanta think tank, say Georgia should increase its public health spending.
Public health funding has decreased since fiscal 2012 from $92 per person to $70 per person, according to a recent report from the institute.
“What Georgia’s state Department of Public Health needs is an intentional, long-term investment that ensures we have a strong public health infrastructure that can tackle ongoing needs while protecting against future health threats,” Chan said.
Rebecca Grapevine is a reporter covering public health in Atlanta for Healthbeat. Contact Rebecca at rgrapevine@healthbeat.org.
