Indiana State Health Improvement Plan (I-SHIP) - State of Indiana

INDIANA STATE HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Partnering for the Public’s Health
SECTION 3: SYSTEM PRIORITIES
During one of its earliest meetings, the Executive Committee arrived at a
consensus conclusion: the public health system of Indiana as currently
constructed and funded is incapable of fully addressing the public health
priorities of the State. The magnitude of these problems is simply too great
for the capacity of the current system to address, despite concerted
determination to do so at every level. Given this conclusion, the Executive
Committee also determined by consensus that a primary focus of this plan
should be public health infrastructure development to the point where the
ten essential services of public health can be effectively and efficiently
provided for all citizens of Indiana. Therefore, the remainder of the Plan
focuses on the seven highest priority public health services.
Following are sections that address each of the System Priorities beginning
with Enforcement of Laws and Regulations. For each Priority, four factors
are presented 1) assessment of the priority based on specified standards, 2)
current gaps described in terms of activities and participation, 3) short,
medium and long-term implementation goals, and 4) prerequisite and
external factors that profoundly influence the extent to which each Standard
can be achieved.
The Standards and Activities were derived from a draft document published
by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). Before the Standards
and Activities were adopted for this plan they were vetted with groups of
Indiana local public health department administrators. These groups were
asked
1. Do these Standards and Activities apply to Indiana?
2. If yes, should they be adopted verbatim or modified?
3. If yes, who participates in implementing them, which are reasonable
and achievable short, medium and long term goals, and what
prerequisites / external factors must be in place to allow attainment
of each Standard.
In all cases, informants agreed that the Standards as found in the PHAB
document pertained to Indiana, most in verbatim form. A very few
Standards were revised to better apply to Indiana. Informants were also able
to identify key participants, goals, and prerequisites/external factors for each
Standard. Informants strongly emphasized, and the Executive Committee
agreed, that those vital Public Health Service Standards cannot be achieved
unless the resources are provided to assure that the prerequisites/external
factors are adequately addressed.