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Official Website

of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

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    State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP)

    The State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP)  is Pennsylvania’s roadmap to improve health over the next five years.  This plan was created by working with a wide range of partners from all over the Commonwealth. Together, they reviewed data, identified health priorities, and made plans to improve health.

    The SHIP aims to make everyone in Pennsylvania healthier, help people to live longer, and to make sure that everyone has a fair chance at good health, no matter who they are or where they live.

    The SHIP includes goals, objectives, and strategies to improve identified health priorities.  The SHIP has three focus areas of health equity, chronic disease prevention, and whole person care. Under these focus areas are nine goal teams that work towards goals and objectives that will be used to measure progress on this five-year plan. 

    SHIP goal teams are made up of individuals and organizations working to improve health in Pennsylvania.  SHIP goal team members include non-profit organizations, government departments, researchers, educational institutions, health professionals, community members, foundations, religious groups, and more.  SHIP goal team members are not required to take on extra tasks, but to report on the work that they are currently doing that helps to reach the SHIP goals and objectives.   

    SHIP goal teams meet virtually to discuss and document the activities currently underway throughout the Commonwealth to achieve the SHIP goals and objectives.  These SHIP goal team meetings help to increase opportunities for collaboration, break down silos, and identify gaps in services that need to be addressed.  The SHIP is a great opportunity to learn about the work occurring throughout the Commonwealth, have your work recognized, and to join forces with other partners to amplify the impact of current efforts.

    The SHIP is more than a plan — it is a partnership. Improving the health of all Pennsylvanians is complex work, and no single agency or organization can do it alone.  To make the SHIP even more successful, we need more organizations across the Commonwealth to get involved and volunteer their time and expertise.  To join the SHIP or to learn more, please contact the SHIP team at RA-ship@pa.gov

    SHIP Information

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    Focus – Reduce chronic disease risk factors and societal impact

    Goals

    • Increase the population at a healthy weight through increasing availability and accessibility of physical activity and affordable nutritious food
    • Reduce the impact of tobacco and nicotine use

    Focus – Increase access to culturally humble whole person care through the lifespan

    Goals

    • Increase access to medical and oral health care
    • Improve mental health and substance use outcomes through improved mental health services, trauma informed trainings, and substance use interventions
    • Improve health outcomes thought improved chronic diseases management
    • Improve maternal and infant health outcomes by improving prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal care

    Focus – Improve health equity by addressing social determinants of health

    Goals

    • Increase financial well-being, food security, and safe affordable housing
    • Increase community safety by reducing the number of violent incidences that occur due to racism, discrimination, or domestic disputes
    • Improve environmental health, focusing on environmental justice communities

    Objectives

    1.1.1    – Decrease the percent of the population living in poverty from 12.1% in 2021 to 9.0%

    1.1.2    – Reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness from 13, 375 in 2020 to 12,037

    1.1.3    – Reduce the percent of the population spending 30% or more of their income on rent from 47% in 2021 to 42%

    1.1.4    – Reduce food insecurity from 8.9% in 2020 to 6.3%

    Objectives

    1.2.1 – Reduce the number of homicides from 8.3/100,000 in 2020 to 7.5/100,000

    1.2.2 – Decrease the total reports of need for older adult protective services received due to caregiver or self-neglect from 58.3% in 2021-2022 to 53.3%

    Objectives

    1.3.1 – Increase population living in counties meeting the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM 2.5 from 66.2% in 2019 to 70.8%

    1.3.2 – Reduce number of heat-related hospitalizations from 206 in 2020 to 185

    1.3.3 - Increase the number of 0-71-month-olds tested for lead from 148,432 in 2020 to 163,275

    Objectives

    2.1.1 – Increase the percentage of adults who participated in 150 minutes of physical activity per week from 51% in 2019 to 56%

    2.1.2 – Increase the percent of high school students who participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity on at least 1 day during a week from 87.4% in 2019 to 90.5%

    2.1.3 – Increase the percentage of adults who consume at least five servings on fruits and/or vegetables every day from 14% in 2021 to 18%

    2.1.4 – Increase the percent of high school students who eat vegetables during a week from 92.1% in 2019 to 94.6%

    2.1.5 – Reduce adult obesity from 33% in 2021 to 28%

    2.1.6 – Reduce childhood obesity from 18.1% in 2017-2018 to 14.4%

    Objectives

    2.2.1 – Reduce current tobacco use among adults from 14% in 2021 to 11%

    2.2.2 – Reduce current vaping among high school students from 24.4% in 2019 to 20.2%

    Objectives

    3.1.1 – Reduce the number of people who do not have a personal health care provider from 11% in 2021 to 8%

    3.1.2 – Increase people who visited a dentist in the last year from 68% in 2020 to 73%

    Objectives

    3.2.1 – Decrease adults who report their mental health not good for 14 or more days in the past month from 14% in 2021 to 11%

    3.2.2 – Reduce suicide rates from 14.0/100,000 in 2019 to 10.7/100,000

    3.2.3 – Decrease high school students who felt sad or hopeless from 34.5% in 2019 to 29.8%

    3.2.4 – Reduce drug overdose deaths from 4.1/10,000 in 2021 to 3.8/10,000

    3.2.5 – Increase mental health provider to population ratio from 420:1 in 2021 to 378:1

    Objectives

    3.3.1 – Decrease heart disease related hospitalizations from 926.8/100,000 in 2019 to 543.5/100,000

    3.3.2 – Reduce the overall cancer death rate from 152.7/100,000 in 2019 to 140.95/100,000

    3.3.3 – Decrease diabetes related hospitalizations from 197.7/100,000 in 2019 to 180.0/100,000

    3.3.5 – Decrease COPD related hospitalizations from 136.9/100,000 in 2019 to 69.0/100,000

    3.3.5 – Decrease Alzheimer’s related hospitalizations from 7.3/100,000 in 2019 to 2.5/100,000

    Objectives

    3.4.1 – Reduce the rate of infant mortality from 5.6/1,000 in 2020 to 4.0/1,000

    3.4.2 – Reduce severe maternal morbidity from 92.4/10,000 in 2020 to 83.2/10,000

    The SHIP is a five-year strategic plan developed with a diverse public partnership of stakeholders across the Commonwealth.  The SHIP lays out goals, objectives, and strategies to improve the health of Pennsylvanians, and indicates where the largest improvements can be made. It is a data driven comprehensive plan and is a primary and expert resource for establishing and maintaining public health programs and policies. 

    The SHIP demonstrates a state-wide commitment to health improvement and heath equity.

    The SHIP calls for cross-sector partnerships and alignment on a manageable set of measurable goals. The SHIP brings together organizations, communities, and individuals to work together toward common ends. In this way, the SHIP can play a vital role in advancing public health in Pennsylvania.

    The Pennsylvania Department of Health defines health equity as providing everyone a fair opportunity to attain their full health potential and that no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential. It implies the absence of avoidable, unfair, or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, geographically, or by other means of stratification. The SHIP breaks down objectives by populations with existing disparities to ensure these populations are the focus of interventions. 

    The SHIP was developed by the collaborative efforts of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the Healthy Pennsylvania Partnership (HPP), community members, and Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in alignment with Public Health Accreditation Board standards. The HPP is a multi-sectoral partnership of stakeholders and collaborators that identifies key health challenges in the Commonwealth and works to solve them. Learn more about the HPP.

    The SHIP has three work groups to address the SHIP focus areas of health equity, chronic disease prevention, and whole person care.  Under these workgroups are nine goal teams that focus on goals and objectives that will beu sed to measure progress on this five-year plan.  Goal teams meet to discuss and document the strategies and activities currently underway throughout the Commonwealth to achieve these goals and objectives.

    The 2023-2028 SHIP has an overarching goal to improve the health status and life expectancy of Pennsylvanians and eliminate health inequities. The SHIP has the following nine goals:

    • Increase financial well-being, food security, and safe affordable housing;
    • Increase community safety by reducing the number of violent incidences that occur due to racism, discrimination, or domestic disputes;
    • Improve environmental health, focusing on environmental justice communities;
    • Increase the population at a healthy weight through increasing availability and accessibility of physical activity and affordable nutritious food;
    • Reduce the impact of tobacco and nicotine use;
    • Increase access to medical and oral health care;
    • Improve mental health and substance use outcomes through improved mental health services, trauma informed trainings, and substance use interventions;
    • Improve health outcomes through improved chronic diseases management; and
    • Improve maternal and infant health outcomes by improving prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal care.

     

    The SHIP is more than a plan - it is a partnership.  Improving the health of all Pennsylvanians is complex work and no single agency or organization can do it alone.  The SHIP is a tool to bring together communities, organizations, and individuals to advance the health of all Pennsylvanians.  It builds on existing partnerships and encourages new collaborations throughout Pennsylvania.  The SHIP requires robust partnerships to document the current work occurring throughout the Commonwealth to reach priority health goals.  SHIP members/partners are not required to take on extra tasks, but to engage in collaborative efforts with other organizations across the state towards common objectives related to their ongoing work.  The SHIP is a great opportunity to have your work recognized and to join forces with other partners to amplify the impact of current efforts. 

    • Increase the impact of your current work by aligning efforts with other partners across the state.
    • Learn about current work and initiatives taking place in Pennsylvania.
    • Have your work represented in the activities and strategies underway to achieve the SHIP goals.
    • Develop partnerships and collaborate with organizations across the state.

    If you are interested in participating in the SHIP’s implementation, please contact the SHIP team at RA-ship@pa.gov for more information.

    View the SHIP in its entirety.

    SHIP Dashboard