Investing in Prevention

Our current health care system leaves many Americans without the preventive care that stops disease and illness before they start. What we need is an approach to health care that keeps people from getting sick in the first place, and that addresses the underlying drivers of chronic disease. 

Under the Affordable Care Act, we are taking the steps to redesigning our health care system to do just that. 

The Affordable Care Act created a new Prevention and Public Health Fund designed to help create the necessary infrastructure to prevent disease, detect it early, and manage conditions before they become severe.  This new initiative will increase the national investment in prevention and public health, improve health, and enhance health care quality.

Secretary Sebelius today announced the allocation of $250 million in Federal fiscal year 2010 for prevention from the new Fund dedicated to four critical priorities:

• Community and Clinical Prevention:  $126 million will support federal, state and community prevention initiatives; the integration of primary care services into publicly-funded community-based behavioral health settings; obesity prevention and fitness; and tobacco cessation.
• Public Health Infrastructure: $70 million will support state, local, and tribal public health infrastructure and build state and local capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. 
• Research and Tracking: $31 million for data collection and analysis; to strengthen CDC’s Community Guide by supporting the Task Force on Community Preventive Services; and to improve transparency and public involvement in the Clinical Preventive Services Task Force.
• Public Health Training: $23 million to expand CDC’s public health workforce programs and public health training centers.

Earlier this week, Secretary Sebelius announced the allocation of the first half of the Prevention and Public Health fund to increase the number of clinicians and strengthen the primary care workforce.  Building on the earlier investments made by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Affordable Care Act, particularly for the National Health Service Corps, the investments will support the training and development of more than 16,000 new primary care providers over the next five years.

With these investments and others, the Affordable Care Act is continuing the Obama Administration’s historic work to promote wellness and reduce chronic disease.  The new law also calls for a national strategy to improve the nation’s health, eliminates co-pays for key preventive services like cancer screenings, and provides new support for employer wellness programs.

To read more about these exciting investments, check out this fact sheet.