778: TFAH Blueprint Report Outlines Six Priorities, Upgrade Your Department’s PMS

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, October 25, 2024. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

TEKISHA EVERETTE: 

The roadmap is related to improving the health and well-being of our nation. We've been doing this since 2008.

SILVERS: 

Trust for America's Health, or TFAH, has published the fifth edition of its blueprint report. Dr. Tekisha Everette, with Trust for America's Health, wants Congress to use the report as a guide.

EVERETTE: 

These documents serve not only as a source of policy guidance for lawmakers and the administration, but it also becomes a rallying point for advocates from a variety of fields who find consensus around our recommendations.

SILVERS: 

The blueprint report has six priority areas to focus on, but TFAH didn't determine these alone.

EVERETTE: 

We invited over 40 organizations to provide input at a convening, including ASTHO, and we ended up doing a process where we socialized specific themes, we listened to the ideas that individuals had, and then we researched evidence-based solutions to pair with those ideas.

SILVERS: 

Everette says the six priorities will strengthen and build a modern, 21st century public health system.

EVERETTE: 

Ensuring that the public health system has what it needs to meet the current child. Current challenges and future challenges that are in front of us, strengthening our readiness for health security threats, promoting health across the lifespan, advancing health equity, addressing the non-medical drivers of health, and protecting the scientific integrity and effectiveness of federal health agencies.

SILVERS: 

The full Trust for America's Health blueprint report is online now. Use the link in the show notes to read it.

In less than one week, ASTHO is hosting a vendor showcase for performance management systems. Andrea Schon with VMSG Dashboard, a public health performance management system, explains exactly what a public health performance management system is.

ANDREA SCHON: 

The performance management system serves as a framework to set goals, to measure progress, report on progress and make improvements.

SILVERS: 

Schon says a performance management system actually allows an organization to set goals and see if the goals are being met.

SCHON: 

So, it's important to public health agencies to have an effective, efficient performance management system in order to identify agencies' actual performance results and compare those agency results to their planned results or their intended results.

SILVERS: 

Schon adds that when you're selecting a performance management system for your team, the system is meant to be a solution, not another problem.

SCHON: 

The system that they're implementing is no longer a hindrance. It is a solution to what they're doing. We don't want the workforce to have to adapt to a system as much as we want a system to adapt to their needs.

SILVERS: 

Sign up for ASTHO's Vendors Showcase by clicking the link in the show notes.

An ASTHO resource can help bolster your understanding of your department's healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance program. ASTHO's HAI Roadmap is a micro learning that outlines how the programs are funded, what they bring to a department, and more. Use the link in the show notes to access the roadmap today.

Also today, a reminder to follow this newscast on your podcast player and connect with ASTHO on social media. We're on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.

Finally, make sure you stay up-to-date with the latest happenings in your jurisdictions and in Washington, D.C. by signing up for ASTHO's Legislative Alerts. There's a link to get in-the-know in the show notes.

That'll do it for today. We're back on Monday morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great weekend.