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FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004

NATIONAL REPORT PRAISES NORTH DAKOTA

AS LEADER IN PUBLIC HEALTH

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 30, 2004) – An assessment of health care in the 50 states, released here today, finds that North Dakota is a pioneer in the field of public health. The report, which touts North Dakota’s public health plan for its detail and corresponding legislative strategy, appears in the February 2004 issue of Governing magazine.

“Setting goals and tracking relevant data are keys to developing and continuing successful public health programs, especially when resources are stretched thin,” says Michele Mariani, co-author of the special issue of Governing. “Unfortunately, in many states, the data fail to indicate how effective public health programs are. North Dakota’s plan is a giant step toward setting the state apart in this area. We were particularly impressed by the state’s plans to streamline its collection of health-related data to include only the most useful pieces so that legislators and other stakeholders won’t be overwhelmed.”

Writing the plan was a multi-part process: First, 150 organizations and agencies came together to brainstorm health objectives for the state. Then, their 545 pieces were boiled down in to a strategic health plan organized around 10 topics, including nutrition, school health and tobacco. Governing’s report adds that the health agency and the University of North Dakota are working together to develop a corresponding legislative health strategy, designed to improve communication with legislators and the health department’s ability to secure support for its programs.

North Dakota also received plaudits for its successful efforts to control prescription drug costs. The state has relied on a variety of tactics including: cutting back on fraud and abuse; eliminating automatic refills for some classes of drug; and encouraging tablet-splitting by pharmacists for medications that cost the same across a spectrum of dosages.

Governing’s analysis of state-funded health care is part of the Government Performance Project, a six-year-old effort, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, to evaluate a wide range of state government management and policy functions. This year’s special report focuses on six critical health care problems facing states: long-term care, public health, mental health, prescription drugs, access to care for the uninsured, and care for children.

The Government Performance Project found and documented the inability of the 50 states’ health care system to deliver improvements in medicine fairly and consistently to many of their citizens. Health care in most states is not just inadequate, the study concluded--it’s deteriorating. “After exhaustive analysis and hundreds of interviews,” says Peter Harkness, Governing’s publisher and editor, “it became clear that there is a health care crisis in America. But it is in no way a medical crisis. It is a fiscal crisis.”

Governing is a policy and management magazine aimed at high-level state and local government officials. An online version of this report will be available at http://www.governing.com/gpp/2004/intro.htm as of January 29. Press releases for each of the 50 states can be found at http://www.governing.com/gpp/2004/press.htm.

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