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TFAH Issues Public Health Recommendations for the Next Administration

By Christine SooHoo, October 27, 2008

On October 21, 2008, the nonprofit health advocacy group, Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), released a public health policy guide for the next Congress, president, and federal executive administration. The report, entitled Blueprint for a Healthier America, is the result of a year-long consensus building process among more than 150 public health experts and organizations. It identifies gaps in public health policy and recommends potential solutions that Congress, the president, and federal agencies can implement, emphasizing that a novel approach must be taken in order to make significant changes.¹

TFAH’ Blueprint is based on a “vision for a healthier America,” where “every American should have the opportunity to be as healthy as he or she can be. Every community should be safe from threats to its health. And all individuals and families should have a high level of services that protect, promote, and preserve their health, regardless of who they are or where they live.” In line with the vision for a healthier America, TFAH proposes two major goals for public health system reform:

1. To provide people with the information, resources, and environment they need to make healthier choices and live healthier lives, and
2. To protect people from health threats beyond their control, such as bioterrorism, natural disasters, infectious disease outbreaks, and environmental hazards.¹

 
To achieve its vision for a healthier America, the report calls for a stable federal funding stream for public health programs, with consistent increases from year to year and collaborative efforts among federal, state, and local officials. TFAH also proposes changes to the federal public health infrastructure, urging the next administration to appoint a Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) who has a strong understanding of public health and healthcare, among other infrastructure changes. In addition, TFAH advises the next administration to establish a public health taskforce within 90 days of taking office. This taskforce would set short- and long-term national health goals and make policy recommendations.¹

In regard to public health preparedness, TFAH stressed that the next administration must clearly define roles and responsibilities of federal agencies in emergency preparedness and response. TFAH identified hospital surge capacity as the most challenging public health preparedness issue for the future, and the group recommends an increased focus on regional coordination among hospitals, public health, and emergency management as one way to improve surge capacity going forward. Other recommendations include ensuring liability protection for volunteers, establishing clear preparedness standards for all states, and restoring preparedness funding to the Fiscal Year 2005 level of $919 million for public health grants, and to the Fiscal Year 2004 level of $515 million for the hospital preparedness programs.¹
 
In addition to public health preparedness, the Blueprint incorporates recommendations from TFAH’s other initiatives, such as:

• Recommendations for a National Health and Prevention Strategy,
• Recommendations for a National Strategy to Combat Obesity,
• Recommendations for Improving Food Safety,
• Recommendations for Policies to Prevent Smoking and Other Tobacco Use, and
• Recommendations for Improving Infant Health in the U.S.

References

1. Levi J, Kaiman S, Juliana C, et al.; Trust for America’s Health. Blueprint for a healthier America: modernizing the federal public health system to focus on prevention and preparedness. October 2008. http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/Blueprint.pdf. Accessed October 21, 2008.