Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Public Health Initiatives: Modernizing Disease Prevention and Public Health Systems

Sec. 4004 Education and Outreach Campaign Regarding Preventive Benefits

• Overview. The Secretary of Health and Human Services must facilitate the creation of a “national public-private partnership for a prevention and health promotion and outreach campaign to raise public awareness of health improvement across the life span.”261
• Information. The campaign must release information regarding (1) the ability of preventive services to “promote wellness, reduce health disparities, and mitigate chronic disease;” (2) the recommendations created by the United States Preventive Services Task Force and the Community Preventive Services Task Force; (3) the link between health behavior and chronic disease prevention; (4) “the preventive services covered under health plans offered through an Exchange;” (5) the preventive care services supported by federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Health Resources and Services Administration; and (6) general information on health promotion.262
• Media Campaign. The Director of the CDC, on behalf of the Secretary, must create a “national science-based media campaign on health promotion and disease prevention.” The Director must solicit bids from entities to design a campaign that will focus on promoting “proper nutrition, regular exercise, smoking cessation, obesity reduction,” and disease screening. The winning bidders may use various media channels such as television and Internet, may target age groups, and may use humor and positive role models. The campaign messages must be distinct from existing health promotion efforts.263
• Website. The Secretary must create a website that will contain nutrition, exercise, smoking cessation, and obesity reduction guidelines.264
• Providers. The Secretary must create a plan to facilitate the dissemination of health promotion information by providers that participate in federal health care programs.265

Personalized Prevention Plans. The Director of the CDC, on the Secretary’s behalf, must contract for the creation of an Internet based “personalized prevention plan tool.” This tool must allow individuals to input information such as their BMI and health history in order to generate the individual’s risk for obtaining “the 5 leading diseases in the United States” and suggestions on how the individual may alleviate their risk.266