Dramatically improve Louisiana’s health landscape in four years? State officials have a plan.

Louisiana’s first-ever state health improvement plan, released last week, imagines a dramatically different health landscape in just four years.

The plan is ambitious, with specific goals like slashing the state’s dismal death rate for pregnant women in half and increasing the number of toddlers who get vaccinated from 60% to 75% by 2028.

Other goals include reducing the number of kids with childhood who experience trauma – like witnessing violence, experiencing homelessness or going hungry – by 100,000.

“We do have some ambitious ones in there,” said Robert Hines, the deputy director of the LDH Bureau of Planning and Performance. “We want to stretch ourselves. … If we set (goals) too low and just do things ‘business as usual,’ then we get nowhere.”

The plan emphasizes equity, “giving everyone the same chance to be healthy,” according to a dashboard tracking the state’s goals.

Focal points

Starting in 2020, the state began collecting data and pulling federal statistics to understand the most dire health problems. The state hosted regional meetings with stakeholders including business owners, nonprofits, hospitals and schools to understand what problems were most pressing.

That led to the creation of four points of focus: behavioral health, chronic disease, community safety and maternal and child health.

From there, the state set targets to significantly move the needle by 2028. Some of the objectives include:

Behavioral Health:

• For every 507 people, there is one mental health provider. The goal is to drive that down to 477
• Reduce opioid deaths by 35%

Chronic Disease

• Reduce the number of adults with a diabetes diagnosis from 12.6% to 8.5%
• Decrease the adult obesity rate from 38.6% to 36%
• Decrease the number of overweight or obese children from 39.2% to 33.5%
• Reduce the cancer death rate by 14%
• Reduce lung cancer cases by 25%

Community Safety

• Lower out-of-school suspension rates from 7.8% to 0.99%
• Increase the number of kids who can read at grade level in third grade from 38% to 46%
• Lower the number of children with high levels of lead in their blood from 3.4% to 1.5%
• Decrease adult sexual violence from 10.3% to 5%
• Increase the homeownership rate from 69.6% to 74.3%

Maternal and Child Health

• Lower the number of babies born before 37 weeks from 13.5% to 12%
• Increase breastfeeding at birth from 68% to 75%
• Lower the number of babies dying before their first birthday from a rate of 7.9 to 7.1 per 1,000 births
• Increase the number of children in early education from 11% to 15%
• Increase the uptake of HPV vaccination from 63.9% to 75%
• Lower the number of women reporting depression after childbirth from 15% to 12.1%
• Increase the number of women getting adequate care in pregnancy from 75% to 81%

Support from Landry administration

The goals and objectives were developed with input from nearly 6,000 people, said Hines. Although the plan was started under the administration of former Gov. John Bel Edwards, it has the support of the current administration of Gov. Jeff Landry, said Hines.

“There is so much alignment right now,” said Hines, who previously worked on state health improvement plans in Texas. “You have the Health Department objectives and goals aligning with the community’s objectives and priorities, aligning with the administration’s goals around health. I don’t see that very often.”

Health secretary Michael Harrington echoed that sentiment.

“This is an example of how data can inform action, and it represents a commitment to adopting effective strategies that will improve the health of all Louisiana residents,” said Harrington. “The plan shows a strong alignment with the priorities and key initiatives of the department.”

There is no specific funding for the plan other than existing federal funding and the state’s Health Department budget. 

With the goals in place, the department is now focused on strategies. Interested members of the public are encouraged to join one of the four initiatives and participate in regular digital meetings by signing up through the plan website.