United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1996-11-13 monographic deposited born digital 30 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-97-13 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-13 P0b002ee18039892e f:he97013 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-13 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-13 HEHS-97-13 Health statistics Health care programs Block grants Public health legislation State-administered programs Statistical methods Disadvantaged persons Federal aid to states Population statistics HHS Healthy People 2000 Program ReliaStar Composite Health Status Index Letter Report HEHS Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO identified measures of the health status of states' populations that could be used to target federal funds, focusing on whether: (1) premature mortality rates and the number of people in poverty would be appropriate measures of and proxies for health status; and (2) other measures might also be used.<p/>GAO found that: (1) premature mortality is the best single proxy for reflecting differences in the health status of states' populations as measured by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Healthy People 2000 indicators and the ReliaStar Financial Corporation's composite health status index; (2) using premature mortality to distribute federal funding for core public health functions would systematically target federal assistance to states on the basis of their populations' rates of mortality, disease incidence, and risk for mortality and morbidity; (3) a number of other variables, including the proportion of states' populations that are poor or minorities, were also found to be correlated with health status differences, but including these variables along with premature mortality did not significantly enhance GAO's ability to differentiate the health status of state populations; and (4) improving the targeting of funds beyond that obtained using premature mortality alone would require using several additional variables, which would add to the complexity of the allocation formula. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-13/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-13.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-13/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-13.pdf GAO/HEHS-97-13 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-97-13 Letter Report GAO/HEHS-97-13; Public Health: A Health Status Indicator for Targeting Federal Aid to States; Health statistics Health care programs Block grants Public health legislation State-administered programs Statistical methods Disadvantaged persons Federal aid to states Population statistics HHS Healthy People 2000 Program ReliaStar Composite Health Status Index