Month: February 2018

 

Health Risk Assesment – The HRA includes questions about chronic diseases, injury risks, modifiable risk factors, and urgent health needs. An HRA generally asks about overall health and functional matters such as ability to engage in activities of daily living (ADLs), level of physical activity, history with regards to falling, any experience with pain, eating patterns, fatigue, alcohol or tobacco use, and medication use.

Further reading –

https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/downloads/AWV_chart_ICN905706.pdf

Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designations are used to identify areas and population groups within the United States that are experiencing a shortage of health professionals. There are three categories of HPSA designation based on the health discipline that is experiencing a shortage:

1) primary medical;

2) dental; and

3) mental health.

The primary factor used to determine a HPSA designation is the number of health professionals relative to the population with consideration of high need. Federal regulations stipulate that, in order to be considered as having a shortage of providers, an area must have a population-to-provider ratio of a certain threshold. For mental health, the population to provider ratio must be at least 30,000 to 1 (20,000 to 1 if there are unusually high needs in the community).

The number of mental health care HPSA designations includes HPSAs that are proposed for withdrawal and HPSAs that have no data. By statute, designations are not withdrawn until a Federal Register Notice is published, generally once a year on or around July 1.

Further reading –

Mental Health Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs)

Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. For 3 decades, Healthy People has established benchmarks and monitored progress over time in order to:

• Encourage collaborations across communities and sectors.
• Empower individuals toward making informed health decisions.
• Measure the impact of prevention activities.

Healthy People 2020 continues in this tradition with the launch on December 2, 2010 of its ambitious, yet achievable, 10-year agenda for improving the Nation’s health. Healthy People 2020 is the result of a multiyear process that reflects input from a diverse group of individuals and organizations. Read the press release for the Healthy People 2020 launch. [PDF – 149 KB]

Vision
A society in which all people live long, healthy lives.

Mission
Healthy People 2020 strives to:

• Identify nationwide health improvement priorities.
• Increase public awareness and understanding of the determinants of health, disease, and disability and the opportunities for progress.
• Provide measurable objectives and goals that are applicable at the national, State, and local levels.
• Engage multiple sectors to take actions to strengthen policies and improve practices that are driven by the best available evidence and knowledge.
• Identify critical research, evaluation, and data collection needs.

Overarching Goals

• Attain high-quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death.
• Achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups.
• Create social and physical environments that promote good health for all.
• Promote quality of life, healthy development, and healthy behaviors across all life stages.

Further reading –

https://www.healthypeople.gov/