PRACTICE STRATEGIES: Healthy Eyes Healthy People~(~R) 2020

摘要

On December 2, 2010, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) unveiled Healthy People 2020, the nation's new 10-year goals and objectives for health promotion and disease prevention. Under its Healthy People program, the HHS provides evidence-based, national objectives for improving the health of all Americans--effectively setting the nation's official public health agenda. The new Healthy People 2020 objectives represent the fourth set of national health care priorities to be issued by the department. The original Healthy People objectives were released in 1979 with a second set of 10-year objectives issued in 1990. At the behest of the American Optometric Association (AOA) and other health care advocacy organizations, a set of "vision and hearing" objectives were included in Healthy People 2010, the department's third set of objectives released in 2000. At the further urging of the AOA and other organizations, this year's Healthy People 2020 objectives include a section devoted exclusively to vision. All of the Healthy People objectives reflect health problems of national importance that have been identified through government reports from agencies such as the HHS' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Specific measurable goals for improvement are set for each objective. The AOA supports Healthy People vision-related objectives through its Healthy Eyes Healthy People~(~R) (HEHP) program, which was developed under terms of a formal memorandum of understanding with the HHS.