Commentary
Considering disability and health: Reflections on the Healthy People 2020 Midcourse Review

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Abstract

The Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) Midcourse Review (MCR) presents an opportunity for professionals in the disability and health field to contemplate preliminary progress toward achieving specific health objectives. The MCR showed notable progress in access to primary care, appropriate services for complex conditions associated with disability, expansion of health promotion programs focusing on disability, improving mental health, and reducing the unemployment rate among job seekers with disabilities. This commentary presents potential considerations, at least in part, for such progress including increased access to health care, greater awareness of appropriate services for complex conditions, and opportunities for societal participation. Additional considerations are provided to address the lack of progress in employment among this population -- a somewhat different measure than that for unemployment. Continuing to monitor these objectives will help inform programs, policies, and practices that promote the health of people with disabilities as measured by HP2020.

Section snippets

Discussion of selected objectives

This commentary is limited to a discussion of six HP2020 disability and health objectives for which the target has been met or exceeded and one objective that is moving away from the target. Objectives that met or exceeded their targets included DH-2.1 increasing state disability health promotion programs; DH-4 reducing barriers to primary care; DH-6 increasing appropriate care for epilepsy; DH-15 reducing unemployment; DH-18 reducing psychological distress; and DH-20 increasing early

Summary

As a half-way point, the HP2020 MCR showed encouraging progress toward improving some health and health-related outcomes for people with disabilities. Several program efforts have likely contributed to the overall progress seen in the Disability and Health Chapter. Such efforts include improving public awareness and appropriate treatment for serious conditions (e.g., uncontrolled seizures and early developmental delays); and support for health promotion programs intended to improve the quality

Funding and disclosure

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors have not made prior presentations or abstracts at meetings of any part of the material presented in this manuscript. There were no sources of funding (direct or indirect) for authors in regards to this report.

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living, Centers for

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Barbara Disckind (Office on Women's Health, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, MD, and Healthy People 2020 Disability and Health Workgroup member) for careful her review and edits; Robin Pendley (National Center for Health Statistics and Healthy People 2020 Disability and Health Workgroup member) for her data review and comment; and Kyung Park (National Center for Health Statistics) for her

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