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
Executive Summary
Hundreds of public health practitioners from across the nation
gathered at the Westin Hotel in downtown Charlotte, N.C., for
APHA’s 2012 Midyear Meeting, which took place June 26–28.
With a theme of “The New Public Health: Rewiring for the Future,”
the meeting zeroed in on equipping public health workers
with the tools, knowledge and insights needed to thrive —
and survive — in a challenging environment. Presenters also
brought with them encouraging stories from the frontlines of
community prevention, most notably the positive outcomes
already unfolding thanks to support from the Communities
Putting Prevention to Work and Community Transformation
Grants programs funded through the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act.
As the theme language hints, meeting sessions did indeed
cover rewiring in a very literal sense, such as North Carolina’s
impressive success implementing health information exchange
technology. It also covered rewiring in a more metaphorical
sense, such as the efforts of Nebraska’s Douglas
County Health Department to transform how communities can
work together to improve population health and create the
conditions that afford good health to all.
Presenters also brought to the table helpful tips for advocating
on public health’s behalf, engaging with nontraditional public
health partners and elevating an evidence-based, healthin-all-policies
approach. The topic of communicating public
health’s good works received attention as well, with speakers
calling on attendees to gather the data and craft the stories
that illustrate the role of public health in people’s lives and the
critical part that a robust public health system plays in improving
health and curbing health care spending.
The Charlotte Midyear Meeting welcomed session presenters
from state and local health departments, federal public health
agencies, schools of public health, private sector public health
partners as well as research, policy and advocacy organizations.
Topics ran the gamut, from community prevention and
health disparities to partnering with the clinical sector and
ensuring quality public health services. Of course, throughout
the nearly three-day meeting, fingers were crossed about the
most popular topic of the day, the soon-to-be announced Supreme
Court decision on the constitutionality of the ACA. The
caveat “if the law is upheld” could be heard on more than one
occasion in the days before the ruling came down.
For public health, the June 28 ACA ruling was not only a victory
for the millions of Americans without access to affordable,
quality health care; it was also a victory for the millions of
Americans who will benefit from landmark community health
investments via the ACA’s Prevention and Public Health Fund.
In fact, many meeting presenters discussed the new opportunities
to promote prevention that are unfolding thanks to
health reform.