The Pennsylvania Department of Health has published the State Health Improvement Plan Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Report.
The Healthy Pennsylvania Partnership (HPP) is a multi-sector collaboration that identifies key health challenges in Pennsylvania and works to solve them. Within the HPP, there are two major and interrelated initiatives: the State Health Assessment (SHA) and the State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP). The SHA identifies population health priorities and the populations most impacted by major health issues.
The State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP), based on the SHA, is a five-year strategic
The State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP), based on the SHA, is a five-year strategic plan developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) in collaboration with the HPP. The purpose of the SHIP is to describe how the health department and the community it serves will work together to improve the health of the Pennsylvania population.The community, stakeholders, and partners can use this health improvement plan to set priorities, direct the use of resources, and develop and implement projects, programs, and policies. Implementation of the plan began with its release in May 2016.
The three health priorities addressed by the SHIP are obesity, physical inactivity, and nutrition; primary care and preventive services; and mental health and substance use. For each SHIP priority, strategies, the target populations, collaborators, targets, and data sources are identified. Across these priority areas are cross-cutting themes that are key to implementing the strategies: health literacy, the public health system, health equity, social determinants of health, and integration of primary care and mental health.
During the past year, three task forces have implemented and promoted the strategic initiatives. This annual report documents progress toward the goals and the implementation of strategies. As the public health environment changes, new opportunities that may impact goals are considered by the task forces. Adjustments to the SHIP strategies are implemented by the task forces. Task forces meet quarterly throughout the year to report on progress in implementing the identified strategies, assess progress, and make recommendations for adjustments.
This report provides the health outcome measures identified in the SHIP, and implementation and progress made on strategic initiatives. It is presented to stakeholders and the public, so they may know how the commonwealth is performing on the priority issues and can prioritize based on performance results. Organizations and individuals are invited to participate. For information, email RA-ship@pa.gov.