INSIGHT & INSPIRATION FROM APHA’S 2012 MIDYEAR MEETING

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Survive All In This Friends Prevention, Strategies
& Thrive Together For Health Opportunity & Equity for Health
The Value of Public Health
The question of public health’s value may seem like a no-brainer to the practitioners who get
to witness the discipline’s outcomes as they unfold on the ground. For decision-makers and the
public, however, the value may be less clear and often, it isn’t clear at all. In today’s fiscal environment,
being able to effectively communicate the value of a robust public health system is an
essential component in moving forward to promote prevention and eliminate disparities.
Glen Mays, a professor in health services and systems research at the University of Kentucky,
has been doing such value-oriented data gathering, though he notes that research remains
scarce and imperfect.
“There’s not enough of this kind of research currently going on within our nation and our communities
and there’s still lots of uncertainties,” he told meeting attendees. “But hopefully, this
kind of research can give you a taste of what’s possible and certainly what we need to be doing
more of to produce the evidence to make the case with the policy community and with the public
at-large.”
First, Mays remarked that the United States is falling further and further behind other comparable
nations in terms of health indicators, despite spending the most on health care. He said
there’s a “real dysfunction and lack of logic” in how we deploy resources in relation to what is
known about the major drivers and determinants of health. For example, more than two-thirds
of health care spending goes toward chronic disease, much of which is preventable; yet less
than 3 percent of resources are directed toward public health activities that target chronic disease
prevention.
“There are lots of targets for realizing value in public health spending that spill over into the
medical care system,” Mays said.