Recommendations for the concepts and form of Healthy People 2020

Since 1980, Healthy People, a comprehensive set of ten-year national public health objectives, has been used by the public health and healthcare communities to guide health planning and motivate action. The USDHHS began developing Healthy People 2020 in 2007. In 2008, USDHHS convened an external advisory committee composed of 13 experts in the fields of public health, healthcare delivery, and other health-related disciplines to advise the USDHHS Secretary on the development of Healthy People 2020, including its vision, mission, goals, objectives, and implementation strategies. In 2008, the committee considered how to improve the Healthy People initiative by building on past efforts. Its members reflected on the purpose of Healthy People and discussed questions such as: What is and is not working well in the initiative, and what else should Healthy People provide to its users? These discussions were informed by public testimony and written comments, as well as expert presentations. The end product of the committee's 2008 work is a report to the USDHHS Secretary that recommends the underlying ideas, concrete form, and implementation of Healthy People 2020. These include a mission statement, vision statement, overarching goals, and an action model for achieving the goals. It was concluded that Healthy People should no longer be known primarily as a print-based reference book. It should also be a user-friendly, Internet-accessible database that is searchable, interactive, and updatable.