About

In 2019, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) convened an advisory committee of over 50 wide-ranging organizations and partners to develop the State Health Assessment (SHA) and the Plan for Well-Being (PfWB). The 2022 SHA describes what we know about the health of Virginians at a point in time. It provides data for examining health inequities and serves as the basis for identifying the priority issues to be addressed in the PfWB document.

A modified version of the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) framework that was developed by the National Association of City and County Health Officials informed the 2022 SHA and the planning process for the PfWB. The Partnering for a Healthy Virginia (PHV) Advisory Council provided guidance, direction, and decision-making for the SHA. Working groups comprised of Subject Matter Experts in each of the priority areas oversaw the development of comprehensive and measurable goals, objectives and strategies that outline the path forward for improving the health of all Virginians.

A data walk was used to present data to inform, educate, and engage stakeholders in a discussion about health outcomes in Virginia. A data walk is an interactive way for stakeholders to engage in dialogue around data about their community. These events were held twice in summer of 2022. Members of the PHV Advisory Council and the Virginia Department of Health Commissioner’s Leadership Team participated. Members based their selection of the priorities for the PfWB on their review of the SHA findings using the below criteria.

Ability to Change

• Does the health indicator measure health issues that are feasible to change?
• Are other groups able to provide resources that support change?

Health Equity

• Does the health indicator measure issues that disproportionately affect population subgroups?

Availability of Data

• Are there data available to measure, track, and compare to other states?

Seriousness

• Does the health indicator reflect health issues with high severity, such as high mortality or morbidity rate?

Magnitude

• Does the health indicator measure health issues that affect a large proportion of the population?

Social Determinant

• Does the health issue affect multiple health outcomes?

Grounded in data, the PfWB identifies strategies to improve outcomes around six priority areas identified by the SHA Advisory Council in August 2022.

Infant Mortality

Firearm-Related Deaths

Obesity

Mental Health

Drug Overdose

Housing, Transportation and Economic Stability

In fall 2022, working groups convened to develop strategies and priorities for the PfWB. The working groups included subject matter experts and members of coalitions already working on priority areas. The working groups focused on identifying goals, objectives, and strategies to inform implementation. Descriptions of these terms are below.

Goals
Goals are statements of vision or intent, often pertaining to a broad health outcome.

Objectives
Objectives are more focused steps that help us reach the overarching goals. Most objectives help us measure progress toward a goal over time; however, some objectives are not specifically measurable and are instead presented as general benchmarks that would demonstrate progress.

Strategies
Strategies describe components of how partners will aim to meet objectives and goals. Strategies within this document are not exhaustive and may adjust over time as objectives and goals are met.

Goals and objectives were established from 2020 baseline data unless otherwise specified in the PfWB. Finally, a core group of staff within the VDH provided overall coordination support to the planning process, including staffing the advisory council and subcommittee meetings.

The Plan for Well-Being (PfWB) outlines strategies and priorities that will guide our work for the next five years. Together, partners are already working on some of these strategies, while others will require further refinement and action planning.

If we understand why some people live long and healthy lives while others do not, we can be more strategic in developing actions and policies to address these challenges.

This framework identifies contributors to health outcomes and the different strategies to move us from traditional downstream to upstream approaches.

The first year of this five-year plan includes:

Shared Agenda – Developing relationships, building partnerships, and developing a shared agenda and implementation plan.

Partners – Identifying partners that will carry forward the work and be held accountable for progress.

Actions – Outlining the actions needed to implement strategies at the different levels of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Three Buckets of Prevention (figure 3) and The Bay Area Regional Inequities Initiative (BARHII) Framework for Reducing Inequities.

Performance Measures – Developing and monitoring scorecards that will help track progress toward population health improvement. This will include health outcomes and performance measures.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides science-based,10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. The current objectives are called Healthy People 2030. Healthy People 2030 (HP 2030) establishes targets that are measurable, achievable, and applicable at the national, state, and local levels to improve health and well-being over the next decade. The 2025–2029 PfWB used HP2030 targets as benchmarks to establish its goals.