Panel Discussion

Healthy People (HP) provides a framework for improving the health of all Americans and provides a blueprint for the nation’s public health agenda. HP tracks and monitors progress toward attainment of targets and elimination of health disparities for a broad array of objectives; consequently, the task of selecting common measurement and monitoring methodologies is nontrivial. Although the initiative serves the scientific community, HP also is designed to address the needs of decision-makers and policy-oriented audiences, making the clear and straightforward presentation of methods and findings an imperative. The panelists discuss lessons learned in HP2010 and present methods under consideration for tracking and monitoring HP2020 objectives. •Measuring Progress toward Target Attainment: In HP2010, assessing progress using percent of targeted change achieved did not reflect differences in difficulty of attaining targets. Given the wide range of objective tracking periods and target-setting methods in HP2020, we are considering a supplemental measure that would allow comparing objectives based on desired rate of progress needed to achieve a certain percent of the target in a preset number of years. •Measuring Health Disparities: In HP2010, disparities were assessed using univariate analyses and calculated as percent differences from a best group rate. Supplemental measures such as the odds ratio and the parity achievement exponent can reveal the multivariate nature of health disparities and eliminate the need to express objectives using adverse events for the purpose of calculating disparities. The challenge remains to develop accompanying language that concisely yet accurately conveys findings to general audiences. •Issues in Spatial Presentation: HP2020 is national in scope and utilized at the state and local levels in community health assessments. Methodological issues arise when the national data source differs from the state/local data source, and when the same data source is used for both national and state/local data, but estimates and interpretations vary based on the geographic unit. •Issues with Age-Adjustment: Direct age-adjustment to the 2000 standard population will continue to be used in HP2020. For objectives that target persons with chronic diseases, we may consider supplemental age-adjusted statistics that also use the population with a specific chronic disease as the standard.

Session Objectives: Identify several possible new measures to evaluate progress toward HP2020 objective targets. Evaluate alternative methods to assess health disparities in HP2020. Describe strengths and weaknesses of various mapping techniques in visualizing HP2020 data. Assess the effect of different standard populations in age-adjustment for HP2020 objectives. Discuss challenges in communicating methods and results to a wide range of stakeholders.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH) , Masters Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES)