Health in All Policies Workgroup
About the Health in All Policies (HiAP) Workgroup Heading link
The Health in All Policies (HiAP) Workgroup is a partnership between the UIC School of Public Health and Illinois Department of Public Health, convened in accordance with the Health in All Policies Act (410 ILCS 155/10(a) thru 155/10(i)) passed by Illinois General Assembly on January 1, 2020. The HiAP Workgroup is tasked with reviewing legislation and making new policy recommendations relating to the health of Illinois residents. Health in All Policies principles are as follows:
- Promote health, equity, and sustainability.
- Enhance cross-sector collaboration.
- Benefit multiple partners.
- Engage stakeholders.
- Create structural and procedural change.
Meet our team and partner agencies
Join our Health In All Policies Alliance Meetings Heading link
Our next meeting: Thursday, October 24, 2024, 1-3pm
Location: UIC School of Public Health 1603 W. Taylor Street, Room 1136 Chicago, IL 60612
Open Comments: The Health in All Policies workgroup is considered a “public Board or Commission” under the State Open Meetings Act, 5 ILCS 120/1 et seq. Meetings are therefore open to the public and provide for an Open Comment period at the top of the agenda for members and non-members. If you would like to provide comments (ideal time limit: 3 minutes), please complete our form located here.
Health in All Policies Framework Heading link
A “health in all policies framework” means a public health framework through which policymakers and stakeholders in the public and private sectors use a collaborative approach to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequities in the state by incorporating health considerations into decision-making across sectors and policy areas.
2023 Recommendations Heading link
The Health in All Policies (HiAP) Workgroup submitted the following recommendations to the Illinois General Assembly on December 31, 2023 as part of their 2023 annual report on safe and affordable housing, with emphasis on housing insecurity and homelessness:
About Housing First
Appropriate funds to the expansion of permanent supportive housing models, particularly those that are guided by Housing First philosophy.
Housing First policies rest on one assumption: homelessness is a problem, permanent housing is the solution, and the solution should not be withheld based on whether someone adheres to the rules of a program, meets milestones to recovery or sobriety, has a criminal record, or has a history of evictions or homelessness. Housing First models offer permanent housing as quickly as possible to individuals and families experiencing homelessness, especially people with long histories of homelessness and co-occurring health challenges. Once the individual(s) are housed, they are offered opt-in supportive services and connections to the community-based support needed to maintain housing and avoid returning to homelessness. Evidence shows that Housing First program outcomes include faster housing placements, increased rates of housing stability and housing retention (including among individuals with co-occurring substance dependence and mental disorders), and decreases in costly shelter use, annual costs, monthly hospital visits, and jail stays.
About Medicaid Demonstration Projects
Provide support to demonstration projects that maximize use of Medicaid funds for housing.
Section 1115 of the Social Security Act gives the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) authority to approve experimental, pilot, or demonstration projects that are likely to promote Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) objectives. Under this authority, the secretary may waive certain provisions of the Medicaid law to give states additional flexibility to design, to evaluate, and to improve their programs to better serve Medicaid populations. As of August 2023, 3,837,155 Illinoisans are enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP. Federal match rates for expenses tied to medical and administrative activities for Medicaid/CHIP recipients can be 50-90%. Creating benefits for people who are Medicaid eligible helps ensure broader service coverage for low-income populations most at risk for homelessness and housing insecurity.
About Improving Housing and Health Data Quality
Improve collection, quality and dissemination of data that connects housing insecurity, homelessness, and evictions to morbidity and mortality.
One of the cross-cutting process strategies of the Home Illinois Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness is to build the data infrastructure to track housing status within mainstream service programs and create a statewide homeless dashboard to understand population needs and trends. We endorse continued progress on this strategy and recommend incorporating health impacts of homelessness in the proposed dashboard as well. Here we offer recommendations to develop a more comprehensive approach to data collection and reporting that incorporates the health status of the homeless and those most at risk of homelessness:
- Incorporate housing stability inquiries into intake health screenings.
- Encourage clinician use of ICD-10-CM Z59 codes in medical records.
- Add a housing status designation on part II of the state of Illinois certificates of death.
- Develop key performance indicators for health and housing.
- Increase data collection on metrics other than the HUD PIT data, such as doubled up homelessness, formerly incarcerated persons, and persons with disabilities.
- Push for legislative reforms to standardize statewide eviction data collection and reporting.
- Incorporate evictions data into IOPEH’s proposed homelessness dashboard.
Read our 2023 Annual Report
Our Work Heading link
