Healthy People 2020 Implementation: Interactive Tools On Healthypeople.Gov

Background:  Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) is a comprehensive national plan that communicates a vision for improving health by setting measurable objectives and assessing progress throughout the decade. While Healthy People has been referred to as a roadmap to improve the health of the Nation, there are inherent challenges in providing actionable resources for state and community health professionals to implement Healthy People on the ground. In this decade, Healthy People has placed a renewed focus on implementation.

Program background:  HealthyPeople.gov has recently launched several interactive, user-centered, online tools designed to help stakeholders achieve their goals, promote HP2020 implementation, and catalyze progress toward the Nation's disease prevention and health promotion targets. Users are now able to search across HP2020 objectives and explore the data and technical information related to HP2020 objectives. These new tools allow users to find nationally representative data across HP2020’s 42 topic areas as a way to communicate priority health issues to stakeholders, including community members, health professionals, and policymakers. Additionally, users are able to use the evidence-based resources search tool to find evidence-based resources and interventions relevant to their work. The evidence-based resources search tool compiles evidence-based resources identified by HHS subject matter experts.  The custom search feature allows users to search by a variety of options including HP2020 topic area, objective, population demographics, and setting to received tailored search results. One other way to address user needs and promote HP2020 implementation is by using storytelling in the form of implementation stories. HP2020 is developing a web-based tool to help professionals learn what communities across the country are doing to implement HP2020 and share their own stories of working toward HP2020 objectives. Users will be able to view stories using a list view or interactive map view and are able to filter stories by HP2020 topic area or Leading Health Indicator or to sort stories by organization name, organization type, state, or date posted.  

Evaluation Methods and Results: N/A  

Conclusions:  This presentation will focus on how a federal health initiative successfully translated national level data and evidence-based resources into implementation practice. These online, interactive tools work to help achieve the HP2020 mission by providing tools for HP2020 implementation at the state and local levels. These tools are also designed to improve health communication to increase public awareness and understanding of the determinants of health, disease, and disability and the opportunities for progress.

Implications for research and/or practice:  The tools outlined here are essential elements in the implementation of Healthy People 2020 to improve the health of communities across the country.