The Child Health and Healthcare Advisory Committee met on June 25 to continue its work on providing a common understanding of Ohio’s greatest child healthcare strengths, challenges, and opportunities for improvement. Commissioned by the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, the Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO) is leading this multi-faceted process to develop an assessment of child health and healthcare in Ohio. This understanding will inform a statewide child healthcare agenda and strategy targeted towards state policymakers and the incoming executive administration. The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Executive Vice President Ann Spicer serves on the advisory committee.
During this meeting, the advisory committee reviewed HPIO’s summary of all Ohio children’s hospital community health needs assessments and implementation strategy documents, as well as all local health department community health assessment and improvement plan documents. Health priorities that rose to the top across both sets of documents included mental health; drug dependence and abuse; health weight/obesity; infant mortality; chronic disease; violence; and access to care.
Top issues prioritized by children’s hospitals but not local health departments included childhood asthma, diabetes, injury, and education. Conversely, top issues prioritized by local health departments but not by children’s hospitals included tobacco, nutrition, maternal and infant health, and physical activity.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 16, will focus on identifying policy initiatives to address identified priorities.