Resilient Nevada subcommittee on social determinants of health and data holds first meeting, sets April follow-up

The newly formed Advisory Committee for Resilient Nevada subcommittee on social determinants of health and data held its first meeting to review funded programs, assess recommended priorities from the 2022 Nevada opioid needs assessment, and plan next steps for the biennial report. The meeting was convened virtually and established a quorum of two members.

Tina, a facilitator with the Health Foundation (speaker 1), summarized previous Fund for Resilient Nevada investments and told members that “there was $10,000,000 or $10,500,000 already being funded” to programming addressing social determinants of health. She highlighted examples such as a pediatric dental program that integrates family screenings to identify household substance use as one way the fund has expanded access to care.

Alyssa Deplanis, who described her role overseeing overdose surveillance and data collection, reviewed priority recommendations from the statewide plan, and outlined data-related strategies such as improving surveillance and rapid-response reporting. TJ Mills, a criminal-justice representative with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, urged the group to evaluate whether previously funded efforts are producing intended outcomes and recommended developing fidelity and evaluation models for programs that the fund supports.

Members discussed practical next steps the subcommittee can take to make high-level recommendations actionable. Tina said she requested a master list of funded programs and will try to provide it within a month or two so the group can better determine which items to prioritize. Participants also suggested the subcommittee consider return-on-investment examples from other states when shaping evaluation criteria.

On recruitment, members recommended inviting subject-matter experts from academic and public-health institutions and from corrections and treatment programs. The group agreed monthly meetings are a reasonable baseline while membership is expanded and tentatively committed to meet again in April to begin drafting recommendations for the 2027 planning cycle and the immediate biannual report work.

The chair opened two public-comment periods during the session; no callers provided comment. The meeting concluded with thanks to participants and an acknowledgment that the subcommittee will continue drafting more actionable language and gather additional data to inform its recommendations.