HJNO May/Jun 2024

36 MAY / JUN 2024  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   Healthcare Briefs Louisianans Struggle to Fill PrescriptionMedication According to a new report from HelpAdvisor. com, 16.9% of Louisiana residents have been unable to fill a prescription medication recently. That’s the highest percentage out of any state in the U.S. HelpAdvisor analyzed the most recent U.S. Cen- sus Bureau Pulse Survey data to determine where Americans are having the most difficulty filling a prescription during a 30-day period in Septem- ber and October of 2023. Here are the key findings from the report: • Nationally, 12.2% of Americans experienced difficulty filling a prescription (during the study period). • In total, 573,096 respondents from Louisi- ana said they were unable to fill a prescrip- tion recently (16.9%). • 31% of Louisiana residents have experi- enced negative health effects as a result of the shortage. DePaul Community Health Centers Promotes PUMP Act Knowledge DePaul Community Health Centers (DCHC) is engaging the New Orleans business community regarding breastfeeding policies, areas of sup- port, and possible barriers regarding mothers breastfeeding in the workplace. A new federal act, which took effect April 28, 2023, focuses on Providing Urgent Maternal Pro- tection for Nursing Mothers (PUMP Act), which requires most employers to provide both rea- sonable break time for employees to express milk for a nursing infant and private spaces to express milk. Here's a quick overview of the PUMP Act: • The PUMP Act protects the right to express breast milk in the workplace for most employees through a nursing child’s first year after birth. • The act requires employers to provide “rea- sonable break time” and private space, other than a bathroom, to express breast milk. • The PUMP Act requires most employers to allow covered employees to take reason- able break time “each time such employee needs to express milk.” The Wage and Hour Division explained in its fact sheet that employers may not deny a covered employee needed break time during the first year of a nursing child’s life. The fre- quency and duration of such breaks will vary depending on factors specific to each employee and the nursing child. • Employers are generally not required to compensate nonexempt employees for reasonable break time unless otherwise required by state or municipal law. How- ever, the Wage and Hour Division noted in the fact sheet that under the FLSA, an employee must either be “completely relieved from duty” or paid for the break time. Where employers provide paid rest breaks, employees may use such time to express breast milk, and the employees must be compensated the same as other employees for such break times. • The PUMP Act contains an exemption for small employers with fewer than fifty employees if compliance “would impose an undue hardship by causing the employer significant difficulty or expense when con- sidering the size, financial resources, nature, or structure of the employer’s business.” • The PUMP Act also applies to remote employees. While the employer, of course, need not provide space in the employee’s home, those employees must be free from observation by any employer-provided or required video system, including a com- puter camera, security camera, or web con- ferencing platform when pumping. • Employees must notify the employer of the failure and give the employer ten days to correct the issue before commencing an action. It is recommended that employers may want to ensure managers and human resources pro- fessionals are trained on the PUMP Act require- ments and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). Employers may also consider periodic employee check-ins to ensure the breaks and pumping space work well. Further, the PUMP Act sets the floor, not the ceiling, and states and municipalities may enact greater protections. Employers may additionally want to review state and municipal laws requir- ing employers to provide greater protections for employees to express milk, including require- ments for lactation spaces to have specific amenities, such as a chair, electric outlets, and refrigeration. Any questions regarding the PUMP Act can be directed to a DCHC Catalyst Infant Equity Pro- gram staff member at (504) 482-2080. Louisiana’s Chief Medical Officer Joe Kanter, MD, Steps Down According to the Louisiana Department of Health, Joe Kanter, MD, Louisiana public health officer, has resigned from the post. Kanter has served in the position since January 2021, having replaced Jimmy Guidry, MD. Guidry served in the office for 24 years. Pete Croughan, MD, deputy LDH secretary, has been named interim state health officer. Highlights of Kanter’s leadership were his push toward vaccine drives among nursing home resi- dents and staff, who were among the hardest hit with COVID fatalities and serious illnesses early in the pandemic. Kanter continues to serve on the medical staff at University Health Center in New Orleans and as a faculty member at LSU Health Sciences Center and Tulane University School of Medicine. Louisiana Epilepsy Care and Research Consortium Holds Conference The second annual conference of the Louisi- ana Epilepsy Care and Research Consortium was held on January 20 at the Higgins Hotel in New Orleans. The program, in collaboration with the Epilepsy Foundation of Louisiana, was structured to engage professionals about public health chal- lenges related to epilepsy care, innovations and developments in the field, and promote research collaborations. Fawad A. Khan, MD, CPPS, section head of the International Center for Epilepsy at Ochsner and Nicole Villemarette-Pittman, PhD, director of clin- ical research for the Neuroscience Research Cen- ter of Excellence, started a nonprofit organization in 2023 to build a society of professionals within the state of Louisiana that focuses on clinical care and research in the epilepsy community.