HealthPartners expands role with national commission to establish prevention priorities

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – July 29, 2015 – HealthPartners is expanding its role with the National Commission on Prevention Priorities (NCPP), which provides information to help decision-makers identify prevention services and policies that maximize the health benefits of their investments. HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research (the Institute), which has developed the methodology to rank clinical preventive services for the NCPP, will now also provide administrative services, help secure funding and contribute to setting strategic direction of the NCPP.

George Isham, MD, MS, senior advisor for HealthPartners and Eduardo Sanchez, MD, chief medical officer for prevention at the American Heart Association, are co-chairs of an ad-hoc working group to shape the NCPP’s effort to yield new opportunities in the national conversation about prevention priorities.

“The NCPP is well-positioned to help shape key policy discussions – governmental and non-governmental – in the realm of clinical and community prevention using rigorous data from the evidence-based modeling conducted by the Institute,” said Sanchez.

The NCPP is made up of representatives from federal agencies, private industry, and nongovernmental organizations. Its work includes the following tools to help identify rational priorities in healthcare and community health:

• Clinical rankings identify evidence-based preventive services that provide the most health impact and are the most cost-effective. The Institute conducted the assessment for the clinical rankings and is currently contributing to the planned publication of updated clinical rankings in the coming year.
• Community Health Advisor helps public policy leaders and other decision-makers identify which evidence-based, population-wide preventive approaches (such as reducing tobacco use and increasing physical activity) will have the biggest impact and be the most cost effective in their community. This tool was created by the Institute.

“As an integrated organization that provides both health services, financing and research, HealthPartners understands the importance of the NCPP, the clinical rankings and the Community Health Advisor tools and has a unique opportunity to advance efforts to improve population health and disease prevention on a national scale,” said Dr. Isham.