Leading Health Security Efforts Through Strategic Collaboration and Innovation
July 26, 2024 | Margaret Nilz
Strategic planning is a cornerstone of effective public health systems, guiding organizations in preparing for and responding to health threats. Three pivotal documents—the CDC Office of Readiness and Response (ORR) Strategic Plan, the ASTHO Strategic Plan, and the ASTHO Environmental Scan—are part of the foundation of ASTHO’s work. Each plays a critical role in shaping public health policies and practices. Understanding their synergies and differences is beneficial and crucial for enhancing our collective efforts in safeguarding public health.
ASTHO’s Environmental Scan tracks U.S. public health concerns and trends. Through qualitative analyses of select health agency materials and health official feedback, this blog identifies state, territorial, and freely associated state health agencies’ (S/THAs) top current and emerging priorities across public health programs, infrastructure, and health equity and agency strategies to address them. Across 2023 and 2024, S/THAs consistently identified emergency preparedness and response as a critical priority.
It is essential to align strategic plans and address emerging public health priorities in order to effectively respond to new health challenges. The ORR and ASTHO Strategic Plans share several common goals, such as implementing equitable, evidence-based practices, partnering for sustainable infrastructure improvements, and focusing on operational excellence while providing technical assistance. However, each plan also has unique missions.
Organizational Mission Statements
Office of Readiness and Response: To enhance the nation’s preparedness and response to public health threats and emergencies.
ASTHO: To support, equip, and advocate for state and territorial health officials in their work of advancing the public’s health and well-being.
ASTHO’s Health Security team has a unit mission and vision that align with ORR goals and focus on supporting the needs of ASTHO members, as identified in the Environmental Scan.
Aligning these strategic goals with current public health priorities is crucial in addressing existing and emerging health threats.
Values
The ORR and ASTHO plans express shared values like collaboration and innovation. These values guide strategic decisions and foster a cohesive public health community.
Table 1. Shared Values
| Office of Readiness and Response | ASTHO |
|---|---|
| Trust | Respect |
| Innovation | Leadership & Collaboration |
| Integrity | Integrity |
| Excellence | Leadership & Responsiveness |
| Health Equity | Diversity & Inclusion |
Competencies and Priorities
Both organizations focus on developing competencies like leadership and technical expertise. ORR concentrates heavily on competencies specific to preparedness, including planning, response, and research for public health emergencies. ASTHO emphasizes competencies to support S/THAs, such as technical assistance, communication, capacity building, and advocacy. Building and aligning these competencies is essential for improving public health outcomes and ensuring workforce preparedness. With that in mind, ASTHO’s competencies are specifically aimed at aiding and supporting its members, and consequently the nation, in achieving the ORR competencies.
Environmental Scan Observations
The ASTHO Environmental Scan thoroughly evaluates current public health trends, challenges, and opportunities. Key highlights from the 2023 and 2024 Environmental Scans include:
- Focus on emerging threats such as infectious diseases and the impact of climate change.
- Changes in public health funding and resource availability.
- Technological advancements and their implications for public health practice.
Common trends identified include a heightened focus on health equity, the importance of data-driven decision-making, and the need for increased interagency collaboration.
- Organizational competencies, including performance management and quality improvement, were listed as current priority areas for public health infrastructure and capacity-building. Focus issues include financial infrastructure, business processes, including procurement, recruitment, and grants management, policy development, and public health governance structures.
- Workforce development was listed as a priority for public health infrastructure and capacity building. Focus issues include recruitment and retention, local academic pipelines and training opportunities, staff compensation, and staff salary gaps.
- Data modernization and informatics are priority areas in states with state health improvement and strategic plans and were listed as current public health infrastructure and capacity-building priorities.
- Accountability, performance management, and quality improvement are priority areas in states with state health improvement and strategic plans and were listed as current public health infrastructure and capacity-building priorities.
Implementation
While ORR and ASTHO aim to achieve similar overarching goals of supporting health agencies, their implementation strategies vary. The ORR Strategic Plan focuses on four primary strategies that directly address the emerging threats and challenges highlighted by S/THAs, including:
- Modernizing and integrating data and systems across multidisciplinary public health entities to support data readiness and interoperability.
- Advancing readiness and response science to improve public health practice, including maturing and implementing evidence-based research in preparedness.
- Building and enhancing the response capability of CDC and state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments and driving collaboration among partners to enable rapid and effective response to public health emergencies through improved capabilities, partnerships, and funding mechanisms.
- Conducting rapid and ongoing readiness and response evaluation to inform continuous improvements across the detection of public health threats, readiness science, and emergency operations.
While ASTHO’s Strategic Plan is less explicitly focused on preparedness, its guiding mission in supporting, equipping, and advocating for S/THOs and their agencies with a focus on leadership development highlights several strategic priorities critical to improving public health preparedness and addressing emerging priorities.
- Health and Racial Equity: A state and territorial public health system that prioritizes implementing policies and programs advancing health and racial equity to achieve optimal health for all.
- Workforce Development: A diverse state and territorial public health workforce that is engaged, well-resourced, well-trained, and connected to the communities it serves.
- Data Modernization and Interoperability: A state and territorial public health system supported by an enterprise-level data infrastructure in which public health data systems are interoperable, secure, and supported by a well-trained workforce.
Collaborative Opportunities
Maximizing the impact of these strategic plans involves leveraging the strengths of each organization through collaboration and innovation. There are numerous areas where ORR and ASTHO can collaborate to enhance public health outcomes:
- Joint programs leveraging CDC’s national scope and ASTHO’s state-level connections.
- Shared research initiatives pooling resources and expertise from both organizations.
- Coordinated emergency response efforts that create a unified front addressing public health emergencies.
By continuing to communicate, these organizations can effectively address complex public health challenges and enhance overall public health resilience.
Future Outlook
Looking ahead, the strategic efforts of ORR and ASTHO will play a crucial role in shaping the future of public health infrastructure and preparedness. Engaging with and supporting these initiatives is essential for all stakeholders. To adapt to the changing health security threats, future iterations of all documents must be routinely updated to meet the needs of the nation and ASTHO’s members. A collective effort is required to improve public health resilience and response capabilities, ensuring we are well-prepared for future challenges.
Ultimately, the synergy between ORR and ASTHO’s strategic plans presents a powerful opportunity to enhance public health outcomes. We can create a more resilient and effective public health system by fostering collaboration, building competencies, and addressing emerging trends and challenges.