Letter From The Director
|
Greetings!
There's certainly been a lot of discussion around the topic of change recently.....Time for change...Believing in change...Planning for change.
Certainly, change can be exciting, but without the right directions, it can take a very long time to reach your destination.
Unfortunately, too many times in my state and federal policy making experience, I've seen this same phenomenon unfold. When we set out to create change, we generally have a fairly clear idea of where we want to go. The problem is, we rarely know how to get there; and sometimes, we don't even know exactly from where we are starting!
That helps explain why so many of the nation's policies don't pan out the way we had hoped. Without direction and guidance that could enable us to reach our desired destination, we might be unable to navigate the pitfalls that can beset a well-intentioned policy.
Obesity is a perfect example. Our nation has seen no shortage of public and private initiatives targeting the obesity epidemic. At the end of the day, though, the facts speak for themselves: Despite our best efforts, obesity remains is the second leading cause of preventable death.
This is why we're so excited about the development of the STOP Obesity Alliance Obesity GPS (Guide for Policy and Program Solutions).
The Obesity GPS is designed to serve as a navigation tool for public and private decision makers as they determine the most successful routes towards reducing the overweight and obesity epidemic.
The key is helping policy makers and program directors stay focused on realistic, effective, evidence-based measures to address this national health crisis. The guide features a series of multi-layered questions which serve both to challenge and to direct policymakers as they design and evaluate obesity efforts.
As we get ready for a new administration to come to town, it's important that we're prepared to take on the challenges and the opportunities that change brings. But in the event that we get a little lost along the way, it's important to remember that there's nothing wrong with asking for directions.
A good GPS system just might be what we need!
|
Sincerely,
Christine C. Ferguson, JD
Director, The STOP Obesity Alliance
Associate Research Professor
School of Public Health and Health Services
Department of Health Policy
The George Washington University |
 |
|
|
Alliance Steering Comittee Member News
|
STOP Obesity Alliance Announces Launch of Obesity GPS
On December 9, STOP Obesity Alliance Health & Wellness Chairperson, 17th U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard H. Carmona, facilitated a panel discussion on Capitol Hill featuring the Alliance's Director, Christine Ferguson, the American Medical Group Association's Julie Sanderson-Austin, and the American Heart Association's Dr. John Ring. The distinguished panel focused on the release of the Obesity GPS - Guide for Policy and Program Solutions, the navigation tool developed to guide public and private decision makers as they determine the most successful routes towards reducing the overweight and obesity epidemic. To learn more about the Obesity GPS, clickhere.
DMAA outlines healthcare-reform principles
DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance has released its principles for healthcare reform, including improving quality and efficiency, and creating incentives to help people improve their health. The principles state that any comprehensive healthcare reform must seek to improve the health of the whole nation; increase access to affordable care; center on consumer needs; reward value and quality; encourage prevention; use tax benefits to expand insurance coverage; boost adoption of health information technology; and implement a national health data repository.
NBGH Releases "An Employer's Guide to Employee Assistance Programs"
National Business Group on Health released its guide to employee assistance programs. The guide provides recommendations for strategically defining, integrating and measuring employee assistance programs including outlining the value proposition for employers and setting professional standards for EAP practitioners. To view the guide, click here.
AHIP to Hold 2009 National Policy Forum in March 2009
America's Health Insurance Plans will hold its National Policy Forum March 10-11, 2009 at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, DC. The forum will include commentary from Henry J. Aaron, Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution; Katherine Baicker, Professor of Health Economics in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health; and Kenneth Thorpe, Chair of the Department of Health Policy & Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, among others. Attendees will learn about 2009 health policy priorities in the Senate and the House, the Administration's health policy report, and health care reform including the role of payment and delivery system reform in changing our country's health care system. Click here to register and get more information.
NCQA and U.S. News & World Report to Hold "Quality Realized: Insights from America's Best Health Plans"
National Committee for Quality Assurance and U.S. News & World Report will hold a conference on America's Best Health Plans on February 12, 2009 at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in Arlington, VA. Conference attendees will learn quality improvement strategies from the top health plans in America including ways to create and sustain a focus on quality improvement in an ever-changing and competitive environment. The conference includes panel discussions on the high performance of Massachusetts' health plans and several regional top performer panels. Click here for more information or to register for the conference. |
News Round-Up
|
Vermont called healthiest state, Louisiana last
Will Dunham
Reuters
December 3, 2008
Louisiana has displaced Mississippi as the unhealthiest U.S. state and other Southern states were close rivals due to high obesity and smoking rates in new rankings that deemed Vermont the healthiest. Many Southern states were clustered near the bottom of the rankings. The region has some of the highest rates of obesity, which contributes to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer, as well as high rates of smoking, which causes cancer, lung disease, heart disease and other problems.
Canadian carriers cram to obey obesity ruling: High court forces airlines' hands; experts have varying ideas for compliance
Harriet Baskas
msnbc.com
December 4, 2008
Canadian airlines are scrambling to figure out how to meet the January 10th deadline for complying with "one-person, one-fare" policy mandated by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA). Under the new rules, applying only to domestic flights, Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and WestJet cannot charge more than one fare to persons with disabilities who cannot fly without the help of an attendant
Portion Distortion
Serena Gordon, HealthDay Reporter
The Washington Post
December 7, 2008
Nutrition experts say portion control is one of the biggest factors in successfully losing weight. But Americans aren't very good at recognizing reasonable portion sizes anymore. A recent study of 120 healthy adults found that when people were given the right size portions, their weight loss efforts were much more successful. Burger King's Greasy CampaignDerrick Z. Jackson Boston Globe December 9, 2008 Burger King launches a new campaign which spreads the American fast-food diet abroad. The campaign brings the Whopper into remote villages, compares it to McDonald's Big Mac and continues to "share cultures" by cooking burgers. |
|
| The Strategies to Overcome & Prevent Obesity Alliance is sponsored by sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC. |
|
