How Numbers Impact Programs, Policies, and People Gary Nelson, President Healthcare Georgia Foundation

Why we need to pay attention to the numbers ? Numbers get things done…What gets measured gets done! Example: Pre 39 week elective deliveries Example: Deaths among isolated seniors Example: Number of Grocery stores per square mile

Why we need to pay attention to the numbers? Numbers enable us to focus our time, talents, and financial resources Example: CDC Winnable Battles Tobacco Teen Pregnancy Obesity HIV/AIDS

“If we keep doing what we have been doing …..we will keep getting what we got!”

Why we need to pay attention to the numbers? Numbers allow us to evaluate and compare Example: Kids Count Example: County Health Rankings Example: State Health Rankings

State Health Rankings---Georgia 2013 Overall Ranking 38 Outcomes Rank 32 Determinants Rank 40 Diabetes Rank 28 Smoking Rank 30 Obesity Rank 30

Georgia ranked 38 in The Georgia Department of Public Health (GDPH) has used America’s Health Rankings® to inform State Health Priorities….. GDPH is developing a statewide telehealth network to address Georgia’s most pressing health issues and reduce access to care barriers. To reduce rates of infant mortality, GDPH is partnering with the March of Dimes and area hospitals. To reduce rates of obesity, Gov. Deal announced the Georgia SHAPE initiative To reduce rates of tobacco, GDPH is partnering with school districts across the state to adopt 100 percent tobacco-free schools. The 2009 Georgia General Assembly passed the Georgia Student Health and Physical Education Act.

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities— brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems”

Why we need to pay attention to the numbers? Numbers help us define inequities Example: Unequal Access Example: Unequal Outcomes

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Unequal Access Hispanic/Latino persons make up the largest group of uninsured Georgians Poverty rates for rural counties exceed those in urban counties by 58% Rural counties have approximately ½ as many physicians

Unequal Outcomes Death rates for African American babies in the first year of life 2 x the rate of white babies The death rates from diabetes is 2 x higher for African- American women than for white women African-American middle school children were more likely to be obese than white children

Why we need to pay attention to the numbers? Numbers help inform the quality of our decisions Example: ROI Atlanta Beltline Example: ROI Charitable Clinic Example: Medicaid Expansion

Recommendation #1: Collect the Evidence Evidence of Need Evidence of Demand Evidence of Effectiveness

Recommendation #2: Communicate Neighborhood Nexus Savannah Community Indicators Project Regional Report Card

/

Recommendation #3: Go Beyond the Numbers “If we are to be successful in our work of improving health and health care for Georgians, it will be because in everything we do, behind everything we say, as the basis for every program decision we make, we will be willing to see the faces”.