HRSA Develops Strategic Plan for Pacific Basin 

By Houkje Ross


Closing the Gap, Pacific Islander Health • June/July 2000


I

n February 2000 the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) met with several other federal agencies and representatives from the six Pacific Basin jurisdictions to develop a strategic plan for improving health in the region. 

The strategy involves creating better collaboration and communication with health ministers, health center administrators, medical 

staff and directors, and the community in the jurisdictions, said Paul 

Nannis, director of HRSA’s Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Legislation. 

“We are striving to listen to what the residents say they need,” he 

added. “This is a very different approach from the past, which made 

the assumption that we, here in D.C., knew what the residents 

wanted.” 

HRSA’s strategic plan is based on a 1998 report called Pacific 

Partnerships for Health, Charting a New Course. The non-partisan, 

Institute of Medicine (IOM), part of the National Academy of Sciences, produced the report for HRSA. 

Some of the problems IOM identified include tuberculosis, 

Hansen’s disease, lower life expectancies, and Vitamin A deficiencies 

due to poor diet. Even with federal funding, the residents of these 

islands are not as healthy as their mainland U.S. counterparts. Contributing factors, according to the IOM findings, are inadequate fiscal 

and personnel management systems, poorly maintained and equipped 

health care facilities, shortages of adequately trained health personnel, 

rapid economic development, and social changes. 

Highlights from HRSA’s strategic plan: 

•	 Keeping other agencies informed. HRSA plans to establish a 

system to inform other offices, bureaus, and agencies about scheduled meetings and conferences with Pacific Basin representatives. 

•	 Reducing the use of hospital-based acute care. Changing the 

region’s dependence and overuse of hospital-based acute care is a 

significant element of the plan. According to the IOM report, 

there is not enough emphasis on public health and prevention 

programs. 

•	 Recruiting health professionals to the Pacific Basin. HRSA administers the National Health Service Corps, which recruits medical school graduates to the Pacific Basin. Graduates provide services in exchange for loan repayment. HRSA sponsored six graduates for work in the Pacific Basin in FY 1999, and continues to 

recruit others. 

•	 Increasing funding for and use of telemedicine. This is important because there are not enough specialty physicians in the 

area. In the past, if a resident had symptoms that were not recognized, or a mid-level physician did not know how to treat something, the patient would be flown to another location. This takes 

up a huge portion of the hospital’s budget, Nannis said. 

“Telemedicine would allow medical information and treatment 

options to be done over the Internet.” 

•	 Expanding primary care and maternal and child health initiatives. HRSA will work to improve, upgrade, and expand primary 

care and maternal and child health initiatives across the six jurisdictions, and support abstinence programs in the region. The 

agency will continue to support Maternal and Child Health 

Community Integrated Service System grants for each jurisdiction, along with Emergency Medical Systems for Children grants. 

For more information, contact Paul Nannis, HRSA, 301-443­

2460.

Office of Minority Health Resource Center	 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services