USA

Citation

(2003), "USA", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 16 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2003.06216eab.008

USA

USA

$15 million in funding for "healthy communities"

Keywords: Health-care improvement, Lifestyle changes, HHS, USA

At a first of its kind national health summit in April, Steps to a Healthier US: Putting Prevention First, attended by 1,000 community leaders, policy makers, health officials and others, Department of Health and Human Services "HHS" Secretary Tommy G. Thompson called on Americans to take the steps that will lead to a healthier nation. The Secretary focused attention on the importance of prevention in outlining his priorities and programs for Steps to a Healthier US, a Department-wide effort in support of the President's Healthier US initiative.

In the USA seven out of ten deaths and the vast majority of serious illness, disability and health-care costs are caused by chronic diseases. Underlying these serious diseases are several important risk factors: poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, and tobacco use and exposure, which can be modified years before they contribute to illness and death.

Secretary Thompson said: "I am convinced that preventing disease by promoting better health is a smart policy choice for our future. Our current health-care system is not structured to deal with the escalating costs of treating diseases that are largely preventable through changes in our lifestyle choices.

"Steps envisions a healthy, strong USA - where diseases are prevented when possible, controlled when necessary and treated when appropriate. It's a bold shift in our approach to the health of our citizens, moving us from a disease care system to a health care system."

Personal responsibility for the choices Americans make and social responsibility to ensure that policy makers support programs that foster healthy behaviours and prevent disease are at the heart of the programme. Steps will focus on reducing the major health burden created by obesity, asthma, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and cancer. A $15 million "Healthy Communities" initiative is part of the Steps initiative. The funds will support programs that improve the lives of Americans through innovative and effective community-based chronic disease prevention and control programs addressing diabetes, obesity and asthma and communities will be charged with implementing programs that will improve the health of their citizens. These new programs will be directed to populations with the greatest needs, including racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, youth and people with disabilities.

In addition, HHS has released a Prevention Portfolio, a series of three publications that will guide community leaders, policy makers and health officials in their efforts to make their communities healthier:

1. 1.

   1 The Power of Prevention is an informative resource for educating policymakers about long-term, cost-effective prevention programs. Detailing the economic and health burden of chronic diseases, this publication supports HHS efforts to bring together community leaders in taking steps to create a healthier USA.

2. 2.

   2 Prevention Strategies that Work deals with effective strategies for reducing the burden of diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease and stroke, as well as for the lifestyle choices associated with them, including tobacco use, physical activity and nutrition, and youth risk taking.

3. 3.

   3 Prevention Programs in Action is a collection of exemplary prevention programs from states and communities across the USA.

Further information abou the publications, together with a brochure about Steps to a Healthier US, are available at: www.HealthierUS.gov/steps

The HIPAA Privacy Rule and researchUS health insurance, Civil’rights, HHS

The Department of Health and Human Services "HHS" issued the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information "the Privacy Rule" under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 "HIPAA" to provide the first comprehensive Federal protection for the privacy of personal health information.

While certain provisions of the Rule specifically concern research and may affect research activities, the Privacy Rule recognizes that the research community has legitimate needs to use, access, and disclose Protected Health Information "PHI" to carry out a wide range of health research protocols and projects. The Privacy Rule protects the privacy of such information while providing ways in which researchers can access and use PHI when necessary to conduct research.

A Web site: at http://privacyruleandresearch.nih.gov/default.asp has been developed to provide the research community with information about the HIPAA Privacy Rule and how it might affect research and a booklet Protecting Personal Health Information in Research: Understanding the HIPAA Privacy Rule, discussing how provisions of the Privacy Rule may affect research, is available from the site. Additional companion pieces to the booklet that will address the possible effects of the Privacy Rule on specific types of research activities are under development and will be available soon through the Web site.

The HHS Office for Civil Rights "OCR" has also developed tools to help entities determine whether they are covered entities and subject to the Rule. These can be accessed at: www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/support/tools/decisionsupport/default.asp

The complete final Privacy Rule can be accessed at: www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/finalreg.html.