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Health impact assessment review: a framework for determining the current state-of science and areas for improvement
Citation:
Rhodus, J., F. A. FULK, AND B. C. AUTREY. Health impact assessment review: a framework for determining the current state-of science and areas for improvement. Presented at National Health Impact Assessment Meeting, Washington, DC, April 03 - 04, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
Understanding the current state and applicability of HIAs in the U.S., as well as best practices and areas for improvement, will help to advance the HIA community of practice in the U.S., improve the quality of assessments upon which stakeholder and policy decisions are based, and promote healthy and sustainable communities.
Description:
A systematic review is being conducted of health impact assessments (HIAs) from the U.S. The purpose of this review is to obtain a clear picture of how HIAs are being implemented nationally and to identify potential areas for improving the HIA community of practice. The review is focused on HIAs from the four sectors that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program has identified as target areas for empowering communities to move toward more sustainable states. The four sectors are transportation, housing/buildings/infrastructure, land use, and waste management/revitalization. A review framework was developed to systematically document the types of community-level decisions being made; data, tools, and models used; pathways and quantifications of endpoints; outcomes and impacts of the HIAs; assessment of HIA defensibility; what additional tools, models, or approaches could have been used to support the analysis; areas for improvement; and identifcation of best practices. This review will be synthesized to identify the state of the HIA practice in the U.S. and to identify areas in the overall HIA process (i.e., screening, scoping, identification, assessment, decision making and recommendations, evaluation and follow-up) that could benefit from enhanced guidance, strategies, and methods for conducting community-based risk assessments and HIAs. The HIA review framework and preliminary results from a pilot review of four HIAs are presented; these four HIAs were conducted in various locations throughout the U.S. (Georgia, Massachusetts, Colorado, and New Mexico) and represent decision-making at the local, county and state levels.