摘要：As the nation’s premier biomedical research agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has supported most of the research that underlies the prevention services that are provided to citizens in the United States and around the world. Within the NIH, the Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) has as its mission to improve the public health by increasing the scope, quality, dissemination, and effect of prevention research supported by the NIH. In today’s environment, the ODP needs to focus its efforts to address this mission. To do so, the ODP has developed a strategic plan for 2014 to 2018. We provide background on the ODP and key points from the strategic plan. It has been clear for some time that modifiable behavioral risk factors are among the leading causes of death in the United States. 1,2 McGinnis and Foege 1 reported that approximately half of all deaths among US residents in 1990 could be attributed to modifiable behavioral risk factors and called for greater investment in prevention. Mokdad et al. 2 reported a similar figure for 2000 and pointed in particular to the need for interventions to prevent smoking onset and increase cessation, to improve diet, and to increase physical activity. Recent reviews have made similar arguments. 3–6 The earlier reports helped set the stage for federal government attention, including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 7 and the release of the National Prevention Strategy in 2011 8 ; these federal efforts include major provisions to advance prevention as a priority for the nation’s health. 9 The ACA requires insurers to cover services recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), vaccinations recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and services for children and adolescents based on guidelines from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Medicare covers annual wellness visits together with many of the services recommended by the USPSTF. The ACA provides matching funds to states if they eliminate cost sharing for Medicaid services recommended by the USPSTF or the ACIP. The ACA provides grants for worksite wellness programs and community prevention programs. The ACA also promotes expanded coordination between the USPSTF, the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF), and the ACIP. As the nation’s premier biomedical research agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has supported most of the research that provides the evidence underlying the prevention services that are provided to citizens in the United States and around the world, including those addressed by the ACA and the National Prevention Strategy. According to NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization data, NIH support for prevention research in 2012 was estimated to be 19% of the total NIH budget—almost $6 billion. When focusing on the 10 leading causes of death in the United States, NIH support for prevention research was a higher percentage and has been increasing: from 2008 to 2012, the proportion of dollars awarded for prevention research increased from 23% to 25%, whereas the proportion of awards for prevention research increased from 18% to 21%. Even with this investment, much work needs to be done, and many challenges exist. 10 These challenges require the NIH Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) to be very focused in its efforts to address its mission, which is to improve the public health by increasing the scope, quality, dissemination, and effect of prevention research supported by the NIH. To this end, the ODP developed a strategic plan to guide its activities over the next five years. We provide background on the ODP and present highlights from the ODP “Strategic Plan 2014–2018,” which was approved by the NIH director on January 3, 2014, and posted on the ODP Web site in February 2014 ( https://prevention.nih.gov/docs/about/ODP_StrategicPlan2014-2018.pdf ).
