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Priority Area 8: Pursue Population Health Goals

Submitted by Admin on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 15:29

The ultimate goal of the health care system is to improve and maintain people’s health and functional status. Population health goals create a bridge between public health and personal health, because population health goals are only attainable through the coordinated efforts of both systems.

The prevention and public health components of the federal law represent a fundamental shift from public health as an afterthought, subject to annual appropriations in competition with the more visible personal health services, to a core, sustained investment. In addition to the creation of the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council, which will coordinate federal strategy, the law includes a large number of grants to address topics including surveillance, public health laboratories, childhood obesity, and racial and ethnic disparities. States will need to consider how closely the criteria for these grants match the priorities and programs in the state.

On the personal health side, the law expands coverage for preventive services, promotes employee wellness programs, and increases payment levels to primary care providers through Medicaid.

The combination of expanded insurance coverage, appropriate benefit design, improved data collection and monitoring, and the increased investment in public health make it realistic for a state to pursue targeted and substantial improvements in the health of the population.

Related Resources

• Enhancing State and Local Capacity to Promote Healthy Weight in Children: Addressing Disparities in the Real World (2005) This report provides practical information that states and community groups can use to implement policy changes and programs aimed at reducing disparities in childhood overweight. • State Purchasing and Regulation of Health Care Services: A Snapshot of Strategies to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2002) This study provides a snapshot of states' use of purchasing and regulation of health care services to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities and the involvement of Offices of Minority Health (OMHs) in these strategies. • Increasing Access to Dental Care in Medicaid: Targeted Programs for Four Populations (2009) This paper describes strategies for meeting the oral health needs of four traditionally underserved populations: young children, pregnant women, people with developmental disabilities, and those living in rural areas. • Medicaid Family Planning Demonstrations: Design Issues and Resources for States (2007) Under health reform, family planning is now a state plan option. This report may provide helpful material for states choosing to implement such an option. • State Health Policies Aimed at Promoting Excellent Systems: A report on States’ Roles in Health Systems Performance (2008) This report includes a subsection on integration of public health with health care approaches. • State Approaches to Childhood Obesity: A Snapshot of Promising Practices and Lessons Learned (2004) This report examines social and environmental factors that some states have addressed in an effort to combat childhood obesity. • Evaluating Community-based Child Health Promotion Programs: A Snapshot of Strategies and Methods (2006) This report provides practical information that states and community groups can use to develop evaluation components of community-based projects that focus on child health promotion. • Moving Forward Together: Implementing New Oral Health Provisions at the State Level (Webinar, Thursday, April 15, 2010) This event focused on the oral health provisions included in the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) and the new health care reform law.