Healthy People 2000 Consortium Meeting

November 7, 1997


Summary of Breakout Group Discussion Concerning
Children's Health


I. General Policy Recommendations

Add children to all objectives or consider a population-based approach such as young children age 1 up to age 12.

Special populations should be identified to support resource allocations.

Public Health Infrastructure pieces of HP 2010 must have a clear focus on children.

Develop and track indicators of quality care /quality assurance for children.

Tracking should include: School days lost due to communicable disease

Who is eligible for EPSDT and who gets it

Percent of preschool children who receive vision, hearing, speech, language screening

Percent of children served by integrated public health social service and education programs

Impact of surroundings, environment on health outcomes

Quality should be consumer centered and children are consumers, too. Every person must have high-quality health care...how you get there may require differential treatment of special populations.

Definition of quality should be child-centered instead of service-centered and should include comprehensive coordination of family services, culturally competent and community-based.

There should be a focus on ecology and environment as well as the traditional focus on medical care.

Coordinate Child Health Objectives with new Children's Health Insurance Program to include Outreach (including home-based), Quality Health Care, which includes Screening (EPDST, Vision and Hearing, Asthma, Anemia), Enabling Services, Parent Education Programs.

II. Organization of Healthy People 2010 Recommendations

The current organization within the Chapters should be revised and each Chapter should be organized under the four Enabling Goals. This will help communicate better what we are trying to accomplish. For example, Instead of each Chapter having Health Status, Risk Reduction, and Services and Protection Objectives, list the objectives for the Chapter under Promoting Healthy Behaviors, Protecting Health, Assuring Access to Quality Health Care and Strengthening Community Prevention.

Have fewer focus areas and fewer objectives.

Are the focus areas functions or categories?

Avoid categorical rigidity.

Clarify Fan Diagram: The Four Enabling Goals should be clearly relevant to all Focus Areas. It needs to be clearer that the Two Overall Goals are for the Enabling Goals and all Focus Areas.

(upside down fan with goals on top).

Philosophical question: If goal is to increase years of healthy life and eliminate disparity instead of reduce disparity, do you need to focus on different populations?

Poverty cannot be removed through HP2010. Consider having a preamble to document regarding how the Government plans to reduce poverty to support system success and success of HP 2010.

Participants

Linda Johnston, Facilitator, Health Resources and Services Administration
Michele Brown, Health Care Financing Administration
Florence Fiori, Health Resources and Services Administration
Laura Hayman, Case Western Reserve University
Dorothy Hutchins, The Healthier People Network, Inc.
Alice McIntosh, American Lung Association
Evelyn Williams, American School Health Association
Lynn Woodhouse, East Stroudsburg University

Breakout Session List