CDC official says America could be 'healthiest nation'

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants to borrow a timeline from President John F. Kennedy, then issue a challenge as ambitious as his 1961 "let's put a man on the moon."

That feat was accomplished in eight years and 59 days. In that amount of time, CDC believes America could become "the healthiest nation" in the world.

The time is ripe because there's "enough common pain around health and health-care costs" to bring out some dynamic and potentially successful collaborations, according to Dr. Bradley A. Perkins, chief strategy and innovation officer for the CDC, a microbiologist and medical doctor who in 2001 led the CDC's investigation into anthrax cases in Florida.

The transition to new national leadership is also a time of "real opportunity," he said.

He explained the challenge Tuesday during the inaugural CDC-Utah Department of Health Forum at the Capitol. At the invitation of Dr. David N. Sundwall, UDOH director, several high-level CDC officials came to Utah for discussions on public health. Dr. Edwin Trevathan, director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, a neurologist, met with residents and faculty at Primary Children's Medical Center, while Alan Kotch, who oversees the CDC Procurement and Grants Office, met with Utah health directors and financial managers. Mid-day, Perkins discussed curbing health-care costs during an Intermountain Healthcare-sponsored "Healthy Dialogues" gathering.

The challenge to be healthier and the problem of rising health-care costs both improve when prevention efforts pick up, Perkins said, although the new phrase of choice is "health protection." That includes not only preventing disease and injury, but also health promotion and preparation for environmental issues, such as bioterrorism or even natural disaster. Health protection is a role of both those who protect health interests — the public health system — and those who treat people — the health-care system.

"Where is health in the dialog about health care? Because it's health that's going to drive costs down," Perkins said.

Another challenge is the fact that public health budgets are going down, while everything else to do with health is going up, he said.

Key to change is real transparency, including information on outcomes and costs, seeing that the best results are rewarded and ensuring information-technology systems that work together, he said.

The goal of becoming the healthiest nation is reachable, Perkins said. To get there, health disparities need to be dealt with and access to care has to improve.