Using Outcome Measures to Monitor the Performance of the National Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program

To determine the success of a state prevention program and to make timely and effective public health decisions, the program's outcomes must be monitored and evaluated. Twenty-one performance measures for the National Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program have been developed from the Healthy People 2010 objectives for heart disease and stroke, from performance measures developed in response to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), and from a fiscal year program announcement. We assessed the availability of state surveillance systems that could address these measures. Current state data were available for only six of the 16 Healthy People 2010 objectives, one of the two GPRA performance measures, and for all three of the surveillance-related measures recommended in the program announcements. If states are to meet the Healthy People 2010 objectives related to high blood pressure, cholesterol, and emergency care during a cardiac arrest, new surveillance resources will be required at both the national and state levels. These would include a national surveillance system of state registries of acute cardiac arrest care, as well as state health examination surveys.