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1992.06.05 :  Physician Practice of Preventive Care 

Media Contacts 
HHS-Deborah Girasek (202) 245-1968
VHA-Mack Haning (214) 830-0253     
BHC-Joe Del Ponte (718) 403-6846
June 5, 1992

       NEW YORK--An unusual collaboration of federal, state,
private and nonprofit health care organizations today launched
the first phase of a campaign to help physicians practice better
preventive care and help patients become active partners in
maintaining their own health.
       The campaign, called "Put Prevention Into Practice," was
announced at the Brooklyn Hospital Center here today by HHS
Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., and by C. Thomas Smith,
president and chief executive officer of Voluntary Hospitals of
America, and  Frederick D. Alley, president and chief executive
officer of the Brooklyn Hospital Center, a VHA hospital.
       Secretary Sullivan said, "The program emphasizes the three
essential components of effective preventive care: immunizations,
screening tests and health counseling.  Central to the program is
a medical passbook recording for each patient the recommended
shots and tests -- and whether they have been accomplished."
       The Brooklyn Hospital Center, the first hospital in the
nation to begin implementing the Put Prevention Into Practice
program, will do so via its primary care health network.  Funded
through a $3.7 million grant from the New York State Department
of Health, the Brooklyn Primary Care Network will provide
clinical preventive services to the borough's medically
underserved families.  A special grant from the United Hospital
Fund will also support this work.  Alley said, "We're delighted
to have been able to put this partnership together, especially
since we serve a community in desperate need of preventive care
and health education."
       The methods and materials that compose Put Prevention Into
Practice were developed by the U.S. Public Health Service headed
by James Mason, M.D., HHS assistant secretary for health.  They
are aimed at providing physicians and patients with easy access
to information on safeguarding health.  They are also designed to
help the office staff and system ensure that appropriate
preventive actions will be taken by physicians and patients
alike.  
       Smith said that VHA, the nation's largest alliance of not-
for-profit hospitals and multi-hospital systems, will begin
promoting and distributing the Put Prevention Into Practice
materials this month to its more than 860 hospitals across the
country.  He described the program as a major element in VHA's
national disease prevention and health promotion campaign, Stay
Healthy USA, which supports Healthy People 2000, the nation's
health objectives for the Year 2000.
       "VHA assisted the Public Health Service in developing Put
Prevention Into Practice, and we are proud to be the first
national alliance of health care organizations to promote and
distribute program materials,"  Smith said.
       The first component of Put Prevention Into Practice to
become available will be a passport-size Personal Health Guide
for adults.  It enables patients to keep track of the
immunizations, screening tests, and health behavior
recommendations that make up good preventive medical care.  
       "The Personal Health Guide will enable patients to become
active partners with their physicians in health promotion and
disease prevention," Secretary Sullivan said.  "It will make it
easy for adults to know what shots or screening tests they need,
when they need them, and which behavior changes could help them
live longer, healthier lives."  
       A Gallup study commissioned by VHA last year showed strong
consumer interest in a personal health guide.  According to the
survey, 85 percent of adults would find such a personal health
guide useful or very useful.  
       Secretary Sullivan praised Put Prevention Into Practice as
"an excellent example of how the public and private sectors can
work together to accomplish the important health goal of
promoting basic primary care and preventive services for all
Americans." 

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