Schools' Participation in the Community Eligibility Provision Affects Students' Receipt of Emergency Benefits during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) benefits were intended for families of school children who lost access to free or reduced-price school meals (FRPMs) during the COVID-19 pandemic-related school closures. In high-poverty communities, all students from schools participating in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) were automatically eligible for P-EBT benefits; in non-CEP schools, only students already participating in FRPMs-for which their parents submitted an individual application-were eligible for P-EBT benefits. Using publicly available data from 105 K-12 public schools located in 4 sizeable low-income New Jersey (NJ) cities, this study investigated the association between school CEP participation status and the reach of P-EBT benefits for eligible students. A generalized linear model with a logit link, a binomial family, and robust standard errors was used. Across all levels of FRPM eligibility based on students' household income, as expected, almost all students from CEP schools received P-EBT benefits; significantly fewer received P-EBT benefits if they attended non-CEP schools, even when they were eligible for FRPMs. Our findings show that without changes to the qualification process for CEP, large numbers of eligible children will not receive the intended health benefits of federal meals programs or similar emergency relief initiatives. Expanding CEP eligibility and simplifying the process through which schools qualify would likely improve the uptake of federal meals programs and emergency interventions, and more effectively achieve their intent.

Impact Of The New Jersey COVID-19 Temporary Emergency Reciprocity Licensure Program On Health Care Workforce Supply.

New Jersey's COVID-19 Temporary Emergency Reciprocity Licensure program provided temporary licenses to more than 31,000 out-of-state health care practitioners. As one of the first COVID-19 hot spots in the US, New Jersey is uniquely positioned to provide insights on enabling an out-of-state health care workforce through temporary licensure to address critical, ongoing concerns about health care workforce supply. In January 2021 we surveyed New Jersey temporary licensees. We analyzed more than 10,000 survey responses and found that practitioners who used the temporary license originated from every state in the US, provided both COVID-19- and non-COVID-19-related care, served a combination of new and existing patients, conversed with patients in at least thirty-six languages, and primarily used telehealth. Findings suggest that temporary licensure of out-of-state practitioners, along with telehealth waivers, may be a valuable, short-term solution to mitigating health care workforce shortages during public health emergencies.