Healthy People 2020 and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act/PHE4095 WEEK 5 DISCUSSON

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Healthy People 2020 Guide to Implementation Healthy People 2020 was developed after extensive stakeholder feedback from public health experts, governmental officials, numerous organizations, and the public. Ten-year goals and objectives were established based on the feedback analysis as a commitment to improving the health of all Americans (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012a).

Implementing Healthy People 2020 in your community is a simple process. Under each objective, there are tools and resources available to assist in the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs that focus on the Healthy People 2020 objectives.

The guide provides a framework to mobilize partners, assess the needs of your community, create a plan to reach the objectives, and a template to track progress. Three of the objectives are listed here with their target and baseline data and community examples of program implementation to address each objective.

Water Quality

Objective: Reduce waterborne disease outbreaks arising from water intended for drinking among persons served by community water systems.

Baseline: 7 outbreaks per year developed from water intended for drinking among persons served by community water systems in 1998–2008.

Target: 2 outbreaks (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012d)

SWAP—Community Involvement

The Colorado Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) is an initiative by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to get the community involved in learning more about the quality of drinking water and to provide community-based strategies to ensure all public water resources are of high quality and are protected from future contamination. Grant funding in the form of technological and financial assistance is also available to local communities to implement protection strategies against waterborne diseases due to contaminated drinking water (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, n.d.).

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Mental Health and Disorders

Objective: Increase the proportion of primary care physician office visits that screen youth aged 12 to 18 years for depression.

Baseline: 2.1 percent of primary care physician office visits screened for depression in 2005– 07.

Target: 2.3 percent (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012b)

Teen Screen—Adolescent Healthcare

The Teen Screen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University is a non- profit health initiative housed in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. One of the goals of the initiative is to work with clinicians, mental health professionals, and schools to incorporate mental health screenings into routine adolescent healthcare to identify mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, at the early onset so prompt treatment can be initiated. TeenScreen Primary Care offers free support to health professionals working to implement mental health screenings for adolescent patients (TeenScreen, n.d.).

Tobacco Use

Objective: Reduce tobacco use by adolescents

Baseline: 19.5 percent of adolescents in grades 9 through 12 smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days in 2009

Target: 16.0 percent (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012c)

Tobacco-Free Sports Initiative

In response to the tobacco use among today’s young people, the CDC established the tobacco- free sports initiative to reach young people who participate in sports. While playing in a sports team, young athletes make important decisions related to health, nutrition, and the use of alcohol and tobacco. Trying to reach young athletes through coaches delivering educational materials on tobacco use will provide students with the tools and the motivation to stop smoking or the desire to never start smoking. Many high-profile celebrities and athletes, such as Jackie Chan and Tony Hawk, have joined the CDC in spreading the dangers of tobacco use and plenty of informational material is available on the CDC Web site (CDC, 2011).

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References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2011). Tobacco-free sports initiatives. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/youth/sports/index.htm

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. (n.d.). Colorado source water assessment and protection. Retrieved from http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/wq/sw/swaphom.html

HealthyPeople.gov. (2012a). Introducing Healthy People 2020. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/about/default.aspx

HealthyPeople.gov. (2012b). Mental health and mental disorders. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=28

HealthyPeople.gov. (2012c). Tobacco use. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/objectiveslist.aspx?topicId=41

HealthyPeople.gov. (2012d). Water quality. Retrieved from http://healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/objectiveslist.aspx?topicId=12

TeenScreen. (n.d.). National center for mental health checkups at Columbia University. Retrieved from http://www.teenscreen.org/programs/primary-care/