WC Indiana News

Public Health Report To Governor Outlines Critical Needs, Irha Leader Encourages Public, Professional Action

Indiana possesses excellent healthcare resources, but the state urgently needs modernization and targeted investments in how it supports and delivers healthcare, particularly to raise the Hoosier state’s overall subpar public health ranking of 40 out of 52 states.

These and other critical findings were presented in the summary report by the Indiana Governor’s Public Health Commission in August. Appointed by Governor Eric Holcomb, Cara Veale, CEO of the Indiana Rural Health Association (IRHA) served on the 15-member commission that was created in August 2021. The Commission included healthcare professionals, business leaders, legislative officials from across Indiana.

The extensive 128-page report to the Governor represented the culmination of an intensive 10-month process that incorporated direct research, statewide meetings with stakeholders, and open public comment. Key recommendations include:

• Providing additional state support to ensure every local health department can provide foundational public health services
• Providing stable, recurring and accessible funding
• Enhancing workforce recruitment, training and retention efforts
• Enhancing data analytics resources for local health departments
• Improving emergency preparedness and filling gaps in EMS workforce
• Increasing the number of school nurses to improve access to school-based health services.

“With the battering that Indiana’s healthcare systems endured during the height of the two-year COVID-19 pandemic, public health and healthcare professionals across the state witnessed renewed evidence that Indiana needed to take steps to make critical changes to our public health system,” said Veale. “We at IRHA are grateful that Governor Holcomb took insightful and courageous action to create and empower this commission, which has now provided concrete and actionable steps to help improve the health of all Hoosiers.”

“With this important research and summary as a new benchmark, we must all work together to strengthen Indiana public health in both urban and rural areas, and especially take critical steps to ensure that all Hoosiers everywhere truly possess equal access to quality healthcare,” the IRHA CEO added.

Citing alarming declines in Hoosier life expectancy and healthcare delivery inequalities, the Commission’s report declared that “Indiana must take action to transform the state’s public health system by modernizing our public health services, administrative and data supports, and delivery systems concurrent with the long-overdue investments that will strengthen our public health workforce to ensure that the state is prepared for future public health emergencies.”

The commission’s work focused on six key workstreams: governance, services and infrastructure; workforce; funding; data and analytics; emergency preparedness; and childhood and adolescent health.

The full report with a complete list of recommendations is posted and available online at www.in.gov/gphc.

The commission was co-chaired by former state Sen. Luke Kenley and Dr. Judy Monroe, a former state health commissioner who now serves as president and CEO of the CDC Foundation. Current State Health Commissioner Kris Box served as secretary, and former Congresswoman Susan Brooks served as citizen advisor. Other members included representatives from local health departments, local government and healthcare associations.

Original source can be found here.