Seventh Meeting: December 17, 2008

Secretary's Advisory Committee on
National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020

Via WebEx

Seventh Meeting: December 17, 2008

Committee Recommendations (Approved by Vote)

• No formal votes were taken during the meeting.

Next Steps

• HHS has requested timely feedback from the Committee in two key areas:
  1. "Topic area" categories that can be used to organize the objectives, and
  2. Methodologies that can be used to set targets for the objectives.
• NORC and Committee members will help to disseminate the Phase I report
• Committee members agreed to issue their recommendations for Phase II through a series of short documents rather than a single, long report.
• The Committee will prepare a statement noting that achieving Healthy People goals is tied to economic and social policy and key actions could make a big difference.
• NORC will develop for the Committee’s use a bulleted list of key issues relating education, health reform, and economic recovery to health status.
• ODPHP will prepare an analysis of two or three "exemplar" objectives from Healthy People 2010: one where the target was reached, one where the target was not relevant or where results were mixed, and one where the target was not reached.
• Dr. Patrick Remington will share a document that lists over 400 evidence-based programs and policies that he and his colleagues are compiling in Wisconsin.
• RADM Slade-Sawyer will submit in writing her questions for the Committee.
• Committee members will review the Partnership for Preventions "Action Guides" http://www.prevent.org/   as examples of how Healthy People materials could be translated into practical, how-to guidance for program planning and development.

Potential Topics for the January Meeting

• A presentation from the Office of the National Coordinator for HealthIT
• Comment from the National Center for Health Statistics on health inquiry data
• Exemplars of past progress on Healthy People objectives
• Findings from the User Questions and Needs focus groups.

All Committee members were present except for Dr. Everold Hosein

I.  Introductory Remarks

RADM Penelope Slade-Sawyer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and Director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), welcomed the audience to the seventh meeting of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020 (the Committee). She noted that the Committee’s Phase I Report has been posted on the Healthy People 2020 public Web site at http://www.healthypeople.gov/.

The Federal Interagency Workgroup (FIW) considered the Committee’s recommendations in developing the framework that will be released by the Department. RADM Slade-Sawyer noted that the FIW’s Phase I recommendations for the overall vision, mission, goals and organizing framework would be submitted for departmental clearance. Phase II of the Healthy People 2020 development process will encompass the development of objectives and strategies for achieving them. The objective selection process will include extensive public input. The entire Healthy People 2020 initiative will be launched in early 2010.

II.  Desired Outcomes of the Meeting

Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Committee Chair, thanked the members for their work and indicated that the Committee would be discussing dissemination of Phase I report and the possibility of briefing the incoming HHS Secretary. In addition, the timeline and work plan for Phase II, including public engagement, would be addressed. Additionally, the Committee would talk about potential topics for their in-person meeting in Washington D.C. in January, 2009.

III.  Current Work of the FIW & HHS’ Direction

RADM Slade-Sawyer reported that the FIW had continued to add representatives from other federal departments, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. A timeline for the FIW’s Phase II activities was being prepared. She indicated that the FIW recognizes the need to look at health issues from a global perspective and has established a new subgroup to interface with other global initiatives and consider the development of a global health topic area.

The Healthy People 2010 Focus Area workgroups were starting to review and revise specific objectives based on scientific evidence and had received final objective development criteria; they will submit proposed objectives and baseline data sources to the FIW in early 2009. The FIW would soon undertake development of a target-setting methodology. Among the questions being considered were whether targets should be aspirational or achievable, and what rationale should be required for setting targets. Strategies for implementation and translation of research into practice were also being reviewed. RADM Slade-Sawyer said feedback from the public and non-HHS federal agencies would be critical in answering these questions. The FIW is working on issues related to the format of Healthy People 2020, including how an electronic version would interface with other systems.

RADM Slade-Sawyer offered other updates on FIW activities, as summarized below:

• The Healthy People Consortium, first convened in 1988, is now reaching out to and engaging agencies and organizations that are interested in becoming involved. There are currently 364 member organizations in the Consortium.
• ODPHP will seek input from states through several mechanisms over the next year. They will co-sponsor (with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research) the Fourth Healthy People State Coordinators workshop. They will also release a request for applications for states, territories, and tribal health agencies to compete for funds to conduct strategic planning activities that support states’ use of the Healthy People framework and population health improvement concepts.