Discuss state initiatives to address concerning health problems: how public resources are utilized to improve population outcomes.

Healthcare, over the past decade has become a very contentious and polarizing issue with the United States. For one, populations are now becoming much older. As these populations are living longer, they often require a larger number of social benefits and healthcare. The strong demand for healthcare related services has helped to fuel a rapid rise in healthcare costs throughout the United States. Currently, healthcare expenditures as a percentage of GDP are roughly 18% or roughly $3.8 trillion. On a per capita basis, this is roughly $11,582 per person. Even more alarming is that these trends of increasing costs show no signs of abating. In 2020, healthcare cost rose 4.6% well more than the overall GDP growth of the country which has historically be 2% to 3%. By the year 2030, some healthcare experts predict that healthcare expenditure will rise to nearly 20% of GDP.

With nearly 1 in every 5 dollars being allocated to healthcare by the year 2030, it should be expected that healthcare outcomes would improve. However, as compared to wealthiest 11 nations on earth, healthcare outcomes are the worst in the United States. In essence, the United States has rising healthcare costs, pays substantially more for healthcare services, but has the worst outcomes. These trends show no signs of abating and as a result requires initiatives to help stem rising healthcare costs.

One such state that is looking to leverage healthcare innovations to help lower healthcare costs while improving outcomes is Oklahoma. Oklahoma is unique in that it ranks as one of the worst states in terms of health status. According to its latest healthcare report, the state of Oklahoma ranks 49THin fruit consumption with just 1 fruit consumed per day. The state ranks 47thin immunizations. It ranks 47THin physical activity among adults and rants 45thin smoking with nearly 25% of the...…a healthy lifestyle within adulthood. This also related to the states initiative related to childrens health, which encourages outdoor play and a healthy lifestyle (Lang, 2014).

Finally, as it relates to behavior health, the state is looking to increase the overall health and wellness of Oklahomans by reducing the prevalence of addiction disorders. Tobacco addictions were addressed in detail earlier. Other areas include drug and alcohol abuse prevention. The state has expanded the drug court and family drug court availability. It has also improved screening efforts and expanded the referral system. Finally, the state is looking to address mental illness. Here, the state has also expanded screening tools used to identify individual with mental health disorders. It has expanded treatment options and has increased the mental health research budget by 30% as compared to last year. Finally, it has created a systems of care statewide program to help families and friends of those who are dealing with mental health issues.