BACKGROUND: Healthy Alaskans 2020 (HA2020) (www.hss.state.ak.us/ha2020) is a statewide initiative sponsored by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium aimed at improving the health of all Alaskans. HA2020 supports collaborative efforts among many sectors, agencies, and communities working towards common goals to improve health and ensure health equity in Alaska.
METHODS: In 2013, HA2020 completed a statewide health assessment to determine health objectives and targets to strive for by 2020. In addition, strategies and actions to achieve those targets were identified.
RESULTS: HA2020 compiled epidemiological health data, completed two statewide online surveys, and conducted a community capacity review. This narrowed down several hundred health indicators to 25 Leading Health Indicators (LHIs). These include health and risk factors across the lifespan, such as prenatal care, immunizations, child and adolescent behavioral measures, injury prevention, and social determinants of health. Targets for each LHI were selected by topic-specific content expert teams to strike a balance between being achievable and aspirational. The 25 LHIs are tracked on a web-based data dissemination tool (Alaska Indictor-Based Information Systems for Public Health, IBIS-PH, www.ibis.dhss.alaska.gov). These data are also summarized and posted in a scorecard format annually, with baseline, target, and current values, as well as a colored icon indicating the extent to which progress is on track to meet LHI targets. In 2015, an Alaska Native version of the scorecard was created to track progress towards targets specifically for the Alaska Native population. The implementation plan includes selecting measures to monitor the use of 75 selected HA2020 LHI strategies and actions.
CONCLUSIONS: The success of HA2020 to date can be attributed to many factors. These include design of the organizational structure, creation and support of partnerships, and compilation and presentation of the best available data on health status, health factors, and health priorities. HA2020 is now carrying out the implementation plan which will help support LHI strategies and actions to help maximize collective efforts to improve health for all Alaskans.