Healthy People 2020: Developing the potential of mobile and digital communication tools to touch the life of every American

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services implemented the Healthy People initiative to set national health objectives for four different decades since 1979. This national effort has promoted a shared vision for improving the health of all Americans in a very fragmented health care delivery system. The current Healthy People 2020 initiative being implemented by the Department's Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion differs from previous efforts in several important ways. This paper explores one of these changes: implementation of a new communication strategy based in modern information technology. This strategy conceptualized a Healthy People 2020 online space that would be a user-focused, ‘one-stop shop’ for public health and health care professionals, policymakers, and community members to learn about the objectives, plan interventions, and implement strategies to reach the 2020 objectives. The communication strategy incorporated new digital media, including building a following on LinkedIn and Twitter. At present, membership in the Healthy People LinkedIn group is more than 7700 people, and the Healthy People Twitter account (@gohealthypeople) has nearly 50 000 followers. In addition to the growth in number of users, the success of the communication strategy is also confirmed by the consistently high customer satisfaction rankings the site receives from the American Customer Satisfaction Index E-government Satisfaction Index. New developments in digital communication technology have the potential to advance three principal functions originally conceptualized for Healthy People 2020 online: benchmarking, advocacy, and connecting with others. Several exciting digital tools can be used to implement each of these key Healthy People 2020 functions, including mobile Web site optimization, smartphone/tablet apps, social media, and cloud computing. Ultimately, HHS can conduct research with Healthy People target audiences and stakeholders to inform the types of digital tools that will be most helpful to Healthy People 2020 users.

Keywords:

• Health Campaigns
• Health Communication
• Health Promotion
• Healthy People Programs
• Public Health

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the important work of the staff from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on the implementation of Healthy People 2020; the design contributions of the members of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; and the operational support of the Interagency Work Groups that developed key content for Healthy People 2020 Online.

Author information

Ron Manderscheid, PhD, is Executive Director, National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors; Adjunct Professor, Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University; and Past President, ACMHA – The College for Behavioral Health Leadership. Dr Manderscheid served on the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, where he led subcommittees on Healthy People 2020 Online, on Health Disparities and Equity, and on Leading Health Indicators. He has a primary interest in the role of consumers in self-direction of care and recovery. He conceptualized the manuscript, wrote the introduction and overview of Healthy People 2020, and the SmartPhone/IPad and Cloud Computing portions of the Discussion.

Kimber Wukitsch, MPH, is a Health Communication Consultant. Ms Wukitsch led the redesign of the Healthy People website in 2010, while serving as Program Manager for the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is passionate about the innovative use of digital media, technologies, and social marketing for promoting healthy behaviors and improving health literacy. Ms Wukitsch contributed to the Methods and Results sections of this paper, as well as the Mobile Optimization and Social Media portions of the Discussion. She is currently the Digital Marketing Manager at Galapagos Conservancy.