Public health and other health care, employer and other business, education, community services, law enforcement and other government and community leaders and their legal and other advisers should check out and provide feedback to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on the new draft Legal Epidemiology Competency Model (LECM) and other CDC resources designed to help the U.S., its organizations, communities and people prepare for and respond to epidemic and other public health and disease concerns.

National and international concern about the outbreak and management of deadly Ebola and other pandemics, bioterrorism and other terrorism attacks, national disasters and other public health risks have sensitized Americans and their business, community and governmental leaders to the potential community wide risks of these and other public health events, the legal and operational challenges that often arise in the course of responding to these risks, and the helpfulness if not necessity of community-wide involvement, preparation and collaboration to the effectiveness of efforts to prepare for and respond to these occurrences.

In recognition of these realities, the CDC is stepping up its efforts both to understand better, and to to educate and support relevant components of U.S. communities, their advisers, researchers and leaders about these public health challenges including the relationships and influences between the occurrence and management of these public health events and the law (“legal epidemiology.”)

Widespread public and private concern and coverage of terrorism attacks and pandemic outbreaks have reinvigorated CDC’s emphasis and efforts to outreach to health care providers, public health, school, and other community organizations, employers and other business leaders and others.  In response to government and public Ebola and other epidemic and pandemic out breaks, for instance, the CDC in recent years has stepped up both its public communications about epidemic and other public health risks and its emphasis upon understanding and developing legal epidemiology practices and resources.   For instance, the death of an Ebola patient in Dallas and subsequent diagnosis of various other victims of Ebola and other pandemic diseases within or potentially traveling to the United States, reinvigorated the emphasis and efforts of  the CDC and other federal and state agencies and other public and private organizations and groups to help law and policy makers prepare for and respond to pandemic and other public health concerns.

While much of the increased or updated CDC knowledge and guidance focuses on improving understanding and communications targeting a specific public health risk or situation, such as the updated State Ebola Protocols Table specifically to support preparedness for and responsiveness Ebola-related situations, the CDC also now recognizes the need to understand and address more generally the emerging area of legal epidemiology.

As part of its efforts to promote better understanding and resources to address legal epidemiology challenges, CDC recently released and now is inviting input on a new draft LECM developed by the CDC in collaboration with a “multidisciplinary expert review  workgroup” as a resource to provide helpful information and support to lawyers, researchers, and others whose work explores how laws can play a role in the cause, distribution, and prevention of disease and injury or otherwise engaged in projects focused at the intersection of law and epidemiology, referred to as “legal epidemiology.”

Recognizing the growing importance of legal epidemiology, the CDC now is inviting input from the broad public health community, as well as from those engaged directly in legal epidemiology work to help CDC further refine the LECM.  While the CDC is inviting interested persons to review the draft LECM and share thoughts on any aspect of the model, CDC has indicated that CDC particularly is interested in reactions and suggestions related to any of the following questions:

• Does the LECM reflect the requirements for truly effective performance of legal epidemiology?
• Are there concepts that should be added or removed?
• Are the behavioral statements in the draft LECM representative of how legal epidemiologists demonstrate competency in their work?
• Does the draft LECM accurately reflect the knowledge, skills, and abilities that legal epidemiologists must demonstrate in your organization?
• How might you use the LECM in your work?

Parties wishing to provide feedback should submit their feedback by Friday, June 16, 2017 in accordance with the instructions shared here or by email to Janelle Nichols at jnichols@phf.org.

Coincident with CDC’s release of the draft LECM for public comment, the CDC PHLP is working to expand awareness and understanding of the emerging field of legal epidemiology.

As part of these efforts, CDC recently released an updated version of its Criminal and Epidemiological Investigations Handbook. Offered in English, Spanish and French, this latest version provides an overview of criminal and epidemiological investigation procedures involving interactions between law enforcement and public health. It is designed to help teach public health and law enforcement how to work together to identify the biological agent, prevent the spread of the disease, avoid public panic, and apprehend those responsible.

CDC also is offering in collaboration with the National Environmental Health Association, a series of webinars on legal epidemiology.  The second webinar in a three-part series of free programs on legal epidemiology titled “Legal Epidemiology, Part 2: A Tool for Evaluating the Impact of Environmental Public Health Laws,” scheduled to take place on June 14, 2017, 1:00–2:30 pm (EDT) will feature speakers from PHLP, highlight variations in state law provisions related to environmental public health issues, and describe related legal epidemiology methods. It will also offer abbreviated training in the principles of legal epidemiology, give examples of its application to environmental public health law, and allow participants to ask questions.  For more details about the program or participation, see here.

About The Author

Recognized by her peers as a Martindale-Hubble “AV-Preeminent” (Top 1%) and “Top Rated Lawyer” with special recognition LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® as “LEGAL LEADER™ Texas Top Rated Lawyer” in Health Care Law and Labor and Employment Law; as among the “Best Lawyers In Dallas” for her work in the fields of “Labor & Employment,” “Tax: Erisa & Employee Benefits,” “Health Care” and “Business and Commercial Law” by D Magazine, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is a practicing attorney board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and management consultant, author, public policy advocate and lecturer widely known for work, teachings and publications.

Ms. Stamer works domestically and internationally with health, insurance and financial services, data and technology, services and consulting, energy, retail, hospitality and other businesses and their management, employee benefit plans, governments and other organizations deal with all aspects of human resources and workforce, internal controls and regulatory compliance, change management and other performance and operations management and compliance. Her day-to-day work encompasses both labor and employment issues, as well as independent contractor, outsourcing, employee leasing, management services and other nontraditional service relationships. She supports her clients both on a real-time, “on demand” basis and with longer term basis to deal with all aspects for workforce and human resources management, including, recruitment, hiring, firing, compensation and benefits, promotion, discipline, compliance, trade secret and confidentiality, noncompetition, privacy and data security, safety, daily performance and operations management, emerging crises, strategic planning, process improvement and change management, investigations, defending litigation, audits, investigations or other enforcement challenges, government affairs and public policy.

Well-known for her extensive work with health, insurance, financial services, technology, energy, manufacturing, retail, hospitality and governmental employers, her nearly 30 years’ of experience encompasses domestic and international businesses of all types and sizes.A Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel, the American Bar Foundation and the Texas Bar Foundation, Ms. Stamer also shares her thought leadership, experience and advocacy on these and other concerns by her service in the leadership of a broad range of other professional and civic organization including her involvement as the Vice Chair of the North Texas Healthcare Compliance Association; Executive Director of the Coalition on Responsible Health Policy and its PROJECT COPE: Coalition on Patient Empowerment; former Board President of the early childhood development intervention agency, The Richardson Development Center for Children; former Gulf Coast TEGE Council Exempt Organization Coordinator; a founding Board Member and past President of the Alliance for Healthcare Excellence; former board member and Vice President of the Managed Care Association; past Board Member and Board Compliance Committee Chair for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas; a member and advisor to the National Physicians’ Council for Healthcare Policy; current Vice Chair of the ABA Tort & Insurance Practice Section Employee Benefits Committee; current Vice Chair of Policy for the Life Sciences Committee of the ABA International Section; Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Section; a current Defined Contribution Plan Committee Co-Chair, former Group Chair and Co-Chair of the ABA RPTE Section Employee Benefits Group; immediate past RPTE Representative to ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council Representative and current RPTE Representative to the ABA Health Law Coordinating Council; past Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Committee; a former member of the Board of Directors, Treasurer, Member and Continuing Education Chair of the Southwest Benefits Association and others.

Author of “Privacy & Pandemic: A Workshop & Materials” presented to the ASTHO and a multitude of other pandemic, occupational health and other public health law and management matters, Ms. Stamer also is a highly popular lecturer, symposia chair and author, who publishes and speaks extensively on health care, privacy, human resources, labor and employment, employee benefits, compensation, occupational safety and health, and other regulatory and operational risk management for the American Bar Association, ALI-ABA, American Health Lawyers, Society of Human Resources Professionals, the Southwest Benefits Association, the Society of Employee Benefits Administrators, the American Law Institute, Lexis-Nexis, Atlantic Information Services, The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), InsuranceThoughtLeaders.com, Benefits Magazine, Employee Benefit News, Texas CEO Magazine, HealthLeaders, the HCCA, ISSA, HIMSS, Modern Healthcare, Managed Healthcare, Institute of Internal Auditors, Society of CPAs, Business Insurance, Employee Benefits News, World At Work, Benefits Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Business Journal, the Houston Business Journal, and many other symposia and publications. She also has served as an Editorial Advisory Board Member for human resources, employee benefit and other management focused publications of BNA, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com and many other prominent publications and speaks and conducts training for a broad range of professional organizations and for clients on the Advisory Boards of InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, and many other publications.

Want to know more? See here for details about the author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, e-mail her here or telephone Ms. Stamer at (469) 767-8872.

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