Janice Phillips

This strategic plan for the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) outlines its priorities for 2020-2025, developed through extensive stakeholder and staff input. The plan is built upon six strategic priorities: Eliminating Health Disparities and Advancing Health Equity; Enhancing Data Gathering, Dissemination and Actionability; Reducing Silos to Improve IDPH Collaboration and Effectiveness; Increasing Organizational and Community Resilience and Preparedness; Improving Communication, Collaboration, and Trust Among Stakeholders, Partners, and the Public; and Strengthening, Supporting and Developing the IDPH and Illinois Public Health Workforce. It incorporates updated mission, vision, and values, and includes specific goals and objectives with time-framed targets to guide the Department's work and foster community health improvements.

This blueprint outlines a strategic direction to transform maternal health and birth outcomes in Illinois. It identifies four strategic priorities: expanding investments in healthcare quality and provider support, promoting access to birthing and specialty care services, establishing universal risk assessment, referral, and care coordination, and developing a shared measurement and accountability framework for maternal health and birth equity. The plan aims to achieve a future where every individual in Illinois has a safe and healthy pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience, making Illinois a national leader in maternal health equity through coordinated, collective action.

This annual report for Fiscal Year 2023 reviews the accomplishments and strategic direction of the Illinois Department of Public Health. It outlines a transition from the COVID-19 public health emergency to a focus on community-centered public health, disease prevention, and addressing historic inequities. Key strategic areas include preparing for future emergencies, modernizing IDPH systems, investing in health equity, and enhancing communications. The report also details future goals for FY24, such as establishing abortion services support, replacing critical IT systems, providing pediatric mental health services, improving public health communications, and expanding existing programs like 'Safe Sleep' and Asthma initiatives.

This report from the Illinois Task Force on Infant and Maternal Mortality Among African Americans outlines key strategies to decrease infant and maternal mortality among African Americans in Illinois. The plan focuses on quality improvement through enhanced evaluations, modernized data collection and sharing systems, and improved coordination of maternal and child health efforts. It also addresses impact and efficiency by recommending proactive assistance for residents affected by the Public Health Emergency Act sunset, adjusting the task force reporting timeframe, and securing financial investment and resources for its activities. The overarching goal is to challenge the status quo, confront underlying structures facilitating inequities, and produce recommendations to improve Black/African American infant and maternal health outcomes.

The Illinois Department of Public Health's 5-year plan, known as Healthy Illinois 2028, focuses on five major areas to address critical public health needs in the state. The plan aims to improve health and well-being, providing fair and equal opportunities for all individuals to achieve their highest level of health. It involves partnerships with local health departments, community-based organizations, medical providers, and state agencies. The plan includes assessing progress, identifying gaps, and implementing strategies through action teams focused on chronic disease, maternal and infant health, mental health and substance use disorder, racism as a public health crisis, and emerging diseases. A public-facing dashboard will be created to track progress and provide access to public health resources.