| Session Title: Environmental Scans Using State Legislative Databases for Health Policy Research |
| Demonstration Session 338 to be held in TRAVIS D on Thursday, Nov 11, 3:35 PM to 4:20 PM |
| Sponsored by the Health Evaluation TIG |
| Presenter(s): |
| Sasigant O'Neil, Mathematica Policy Research, so'neil@mathematica-mpr.com |
| Mindy Lipson, Mathematica Policy Research, mlipson@mathematica-mpr.com |
| Abstract: Results from an environmental scan can be used for multiple purposes in the field of health policy, including policy development, improvement, and assessment. State legislative websites include databases that provide a rich source of publicly available information for an environmental scan. These databases contain enacted and unsuccessful bills that can be used to track and compare policies across states. Each state’s database has unique features, so a systematic searching process is needed to ensure successful searches. Through our work to identify public health laws and regulations, we have become familiar with the types of information in them and developed best practices in searching through these databases. Participants will leave the session with knowledge of state legislative database structures and the information contained in them, strategies for inputting key words for the searches, a summary sheet of each state legislative database’s unique features, and tools for cataloging policies to facilitate analysis. |