INDIANAPOLIS — A new commission will recommend improvements to Indiana’s public health system, which state officials said Wednesday continues to be the state’s “Achilles’ heel.”
The 15-member Governor’s Public Health Commission — established in an executive order issued by Gov. Eric Holcomb — will examine the state’s preparedness for health emergencies, funding plans, governance models at the state and local levels, data collection measures, and adolescent health care access.
The group’s goal is to make recommendations for changes that can be shared with the Indiana General Assembly and enacted through new policy during the 2023 legislative session.
“The task at head couldn’t be more important, and the time of the world it’s going to be conducted couldn’t be more pressing,” Holcomb said during a news conference Wednesday. “This will help us inform going into that budget year, and it will be a very thorough, deep dive. This is not a blame-storming mission by any stretch of the imagination.”
While state officials said planning for the commission began before the COVID-19 pandemic, they emphasized that the coronavirus has “exacerbated the need” to modernize Indiana’s public health system.
Recommendations from the commission are expected to be long term. A commission subgroup is anticipated to study state and local health department responses to COVID-19, but Holcomb said that examination is aimed at informing future public health emergencies.
Still, the Republican governor said some “good ideas” learned along the way could be implemented, including those related to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve got our game plan right now to continue to wok through the pandemic,” Holcomb said. “But that’s not what this task force is about. This is a long-term look at where we want our state to be decades from now.”
The commission will be co-chaired by former state Sen. Luke Kenley, who has spent decades managing complex issues and budgets for the state, and Dr. Judy Monroe, who served as state health commissioner from 2005 to 2010 and now serves as president and CEO of the CDC Foundation.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box, who will serve as the commission’s secretary, said addressing resources within Indiana’s 94 health departments — especially those needed to complete routine tasks — will be key to statewide improvements to public health.
“Some of these departments are simply unable to perform all of these duties that they’re required to do by law,” Box said. “They’re resources are stretched thin in the worst of times, and carrying out these required duties during the pandemic has become a herculean task. They deserve our help.”
Appointments to the commission are forthcoming, according to the governor’s office. The commission is expected to begin its work in September and provide a report with recommendations within a year.
Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
