The public is invited to weigh in on the Indiana State Department of Health's, or ISDH, Health Improvement Plan.
The plan is intended to provide a road map for what issues the agency will focus on for the next few years.
To update the plan, ISDH began with a review. Eden Bezy a director at the ISDH says the last overhaul for the plan was in 2012. "So these four or five really hot topics rose to the surface, " Bezy says. Infant mortality, opioids, chronic disease, are all issues the state has already identified.
Many of the goals address social determinants tied to these issues like access to healthy food or disparity in care.
"That can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people so making sure we have strategies to address access in general is important to use," says Bezy.
The public comment period is open now. The Department of Health will present a final draft in a couple months.