Guest: Karen Timberlake, Director, Population Health Institute at UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health
What do nutrition, transportation, employment, poverty, adult education, housing, and physical activity have to do with health? Everything, says Karen Timberlake, who leads the UW Population Health Institute in advancing public health and health policy decisions that improve health. In ranking the United States versus six other countries in the industrialized world, the U.S. spends 2-3 times more on healthcare than the other countries and is last on the list of its citizens leading long, health, productive lives.
On this program, Karen Timberlake talks about the scientific data the Institute gathers to rank counties across the country on their level of health and the need for communities to come together to improve those areas which hinder healthy living. The Affordable Care Act can help, she says, by providing more affordable health insurance coverage for more people, by moving healthcare delivery and payment from volume toward value, and by requiring greater collaboration between healthcare providers and the wider community. But it is not the entire solution. Many factors influence health. It is important that all of us take action to improve our health and the health of our community.
More information on Wisconsin health trends and county rankings can be found on the Population Health Institute website, uwphi.pophealth.wisc.edu.
