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Policy Resources

Find fact sheets, reports, guides, and other tools for health professionals and state health departments on heart disease and stroke policies.

State Policy Analysis

  • A Summary of Primary Stroke Center Policy in the United States [PDF-2M]
    This summary provides an overview laws and regulations related to primary stroke centers in the United States through mid-2010. It includes a summary and synthesis of policy action across states as well as an individual report for each state.
  • A Summary of Public Access Defibrillation Laws, United States, 2010
    This summary reviews each state’s legal requirements for recommended public access defibrillation(PAD) program elements and concludes that PAD programs in many states are at risk of failure because critical elements such as maintenance, medical oversight, emergency medical service notification, and continuous quality improvement are not required. The summary suggests that policy makers consider strengthening PAD policies by enacting laws that can reduce the time from collapse to shock, such as requiring the strategic placement of AEDs in high-risk locations or mandatory PAD registries that are coordinated with local EMS and dispatch centers.

State Law Fact Sheets

Law can serve as an important tool in improving public health.1 State Law Fact Sheets describe the scientific evidence in support of particular legal interventions and describe the extent to which states have enacted such laws. Such information can be useful to state and local public health practitioners, researchers, and decision makers.

Policy Evidence Assessment Reports

Evidence-based policy can be used to prevent, control, and improve the outcomes of chronic disease. These reports aim to inform researchers, evaluators, and practitioners about the strengths and limitations of the evidence bases for individual components of chronic disease policy.

Guides, Recommendations, Tools

These resources include summaries, tools, and strategies for health professionals, CHWs, pharmacists, and more to help guide their heart disease and stroke prevention efforts.

Resources from Other Organizations

  • The Cost-Effectiveness of Interventions Designed to Reduce Sodium Intake
    This comprehensive literature review summarizes evidence on selected population-wide interventions to reduce sodium as approaches to control hypertension. The findings indicate that sodium reduction interventions are low in cost and cost-effective.
  • A Population-Based Policy and Systems Change Approach to Prevent and Control Hypertension
    This Institute of Medicine (IOM) report recommends that federal, state, and local health agencies focus on population-based strategies that can reach large numbers of people and improve the well-being of entire communities. Behavioral and lifestyle interventions—reducing sodium intake, increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables, and increasing physical activity—are among the best examples. The report also highlights the need to improve providers’ adherence to the treatment guidelines for hypertension and to encourage patients to take medication consistently by reducing or eliminating the cost of antihypertensive medication.
  • The Role of Nutrition in Maintaining Health in the Nation’s Elderly: Evaluating Coverage of Nutrition Services for the Medicare Population
    This Institute of Medicine (IOM) publication provides recommendations for nutrition services for the elderly, including sodium reduction among the Medicare population, and considers how health care coverage policies should be approached and practiced. The book also discusses the role of nutrition therapy in the management of cardiovascular disease, among other conditions.

Recent Articles

References

  1. Mensah GA, Goodman RA, Zaza S, et al. Law as a tool for preventing chronic diseases: expanding the spectrum of effective public health strategies. Prev. Chron. Dis. [serial online]. 2004:1(1). Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2004/jan/03_0033.htm.
State workplace health promotion law infographic image.

Reports and publications that can be used to help shape policies for the prevention of heart disease and stroke.

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