FY 2016 Appropriation

The Bureau of Health Promotion works to reduce premature death and disability due to heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, tobacco, injuries and violence, and lack of prenatal care. The Bureau's mission is to foster a culture of health in Utah, by promoting environments in which the healthy choice is the easy choice. The Bureau's programs coordinate around common functions such as public health surveillance and information management, local health departments and other partner relations, consumer education, outreach, and research. Comprehensive population-based interventions take place at school, work, community and health care settings, and include primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies.

Funding History
Appropriation Overview

During the 2015 General Session, the Legislature appropriated for Fiscal Year 2016, $27,802,900 from all sources for Health Promotion. This is a 696.4 percent increase from Fiscal Year 2015 revised estimated amounts from all sources. The total includes $2,397,700 from the General/Education Funds, an increase of 58.6 percent from revised Fiscal Year 2015 estimates.

Appropriation Adjustments

In addition to statewide compensation and internal service fund cost increases, the following appropriation adjustments were made during the 2015 General Session:

DescriptionOngoingOne-Time Alzheimer's State Plan Amendments$161,200$0
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$161,200$0General Fund
"requires the Department of Health to designate Alzheimer's disease and related dementia as a public health issue and implement a state plan for Alzheimer's disease and related dementia."
Federal Funds Adjustments$0 ($22,346,300)
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$0 ($22,346,300)Federal Funds
Annual adjustments of federal funds based on agency submission of grant changes.
Parkinson Disease Registry$0$200,000
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$0$200,000General Fund, One-time
"Public health." "Little is known about the casuses and treatment of this devasting disease and why the incidence of the disease is increasing so fast in Utah. To learn that information is the purpose of the Utah Parkinson's Disease Registry." "The [Parkinson Disease Registry] is housed at the University fo Utah, along with the Utah Cancer Registry and the Utah Autism Registry…the Parkinson's Disease Registry is requesting $200,000 one-time money…to make the Registry fully functional."
Prescription Drug Abuse, Misuse, and Overdose Prevention$0$500,000
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$0$500,000General Fund, One-time
Fund public outreach prevention program targeting opioid misuse and death. How Measure Success? 15% decrease in opioid overdoses by 15% over the next two years.
Transfer Cytomegalovirus Public Health Initiative from Disease Control and Prevention to Family Health and Preparedness ($40,000) ($40,000)
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
($40,000)$0General Fund
$0 ($40,000)General Fund, One-time
Transfer the $40,000 ongoing General Fund for the item "Additional Funding for HB 81 (2013 General Session, Menlove) Cytomegalovirus Public Health Initiative" from the Department of Health's Disease Control and Prevention line item to the Family Health and Preparedness line item.
Staff Analysis

Tobacco Prevention and Control in Utah - UCA 51-9-203(3) requires the Department of Health to report on reviews conducted of programs that received tobacco money funding. This report is available at http://health.utah.gov/legislativereports/tpcpfy14finalreport.pdf. The following are some quotes from the FY 2014 report:

  1. "In FY14, more than 7,000 Utahns registered for Quit Line or QuitNet services."
  2. "Since 2001, illegal sales of tobacco to underage youth have declined 69% to a statewide rate of 5.0%."
  3. "Nearly one-third of Utah youth who used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days reported that they had never tried conventional cigarettes."

Percentage of Adults Who Are Current Smokers

Percentage of Adults Who Are Current Smokers

Cancer Control Program

The mission of the Utah Cancer Control Program is to reduce cancer incidence and mortality in Utah through collaborative efforts that provide services and programs directed toward comprehensive cancer prevention and control through the following:

  1. Implementation of the strategies of the 2011-2015 Utah Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan and initiate priority strategies annually along with the members, work groups, and committees of the Utah Cancer Action Network.
  2. Maintain the Utah Cancer Action Network, a group of over 160 people from over 50 organizations working together to reduce cancer incidence and mortality for all Utahns. The group includes hospitals, private clinics, government and community agencies, non-profit organizations, and other groups.
  3. Implement breast, cervical, colon, radon, and skin cancer prevention education campaigns.
  4. Provide breast and cervical cancer screening; cholesterol, glucose and blood pressure testing; lifestyle coaching; and access to treatment through Medicaid for Utah women who meet income eligibility and age guidelines.
  5. Sponsor and co-sponsor meetings for health care providers, practitioners, and professionals.
  6. Work closely with local health departments and other community providers statewide.
  7. Conduct a colorectal cancer awareness program and screening for individuals between 50 and 64, low-income, at average risk for colon cancer, and referred by a primary care provider.
  8. Work with health insurance agencies to review screening policies.
  9. Promote the health benefits of cancer screening and prevention.

Healthy Living through Environment, Policy and Improved Clinical Care Program (100% Federally-funded)

The Healthy Living through Environment, Policy and Improved Clinical Care Program aims to reduce the incidence of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke by targeting risk factors including reducing obesity, increasing physical activity and nutritious food consumption, and improving diabetes and hypertension control. This is done through three approaches; Policy and Environment, Health Systems, and Community Clinical Linkages. The primary strategies of the program include:

  • Increasing healthy nutrition and physical activity environments in K-12 schools.
  • Increasing healthy nutrition and physical activity environments in early care and education (childcare/preschool).
  • Increasing healthy nutrition and physical activity environments in worksites.
  • Improving awareness of prediabetes and hypertension for Utahns.
  • Improving the quality of medical care for people with diabetes and hypertension.
    • Improving team based care of newly diagnosed and resistant hypertension.
    • Improving team based care of uncontrolled diabetes.
  • Improving the linkages between health care providers and supporting community programs for Utahns with diabetes and hypertension.
  • Improving access and availability to community health programs for Utahns with diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
  • Improving care and management of students with chronic conditions in Utah schools.

Arthritis Program (100% Federally-funded)

The mission of the Utah Arthritis Program is to improve the quality of life for people affected by arthritis. The program is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Administration on Aging.

The Utah Arthritis Program focuses on:

  1. Increasing community awareness
  2. Measuring arthritis trends
  3. Supporting policy and decision making to address arthritis
  4. Increasing access and use of evidence based interventions designed for people with arthritis

Evidence-based Interventions: The Utah Arthritis Program works with partners to develop infrastructure and offer evidence based interventions to people with arthritis. Currently there are three categories of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-approved evidence based interventions:

  1. Media Campaigns: Physical Activity the Arthritis Pain Reliever and Buenos Dias Artritis: The Spanish Media Campaign
  2. Community Based Interventions: Arthritis Foundation Self Help Program and the Chronic Disease Self Management Program
  3. Physical Activity Interventions: Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program and Enhance Fitness

All reports are available on the Utah Arthritis Program website at http://health.utah.gov/arthritis/.

Asthma Program (100% Federally-funded)

The Utah Asthma Program was developed in 2002 and is fully funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to address asthma from a public health perspective. The program works to identify the extent of the asthma problem, implement a statewide plan to reduce the burden of asthma, and partners with other agencies to increase awareness and use of asthma self-management and asthma care resources.

Violence and Injury Prevention Program

To accomplish its mission, the Violence and Injury Prevention Program collaborates with many partners, including other Health Department programs, State and local agencies, local health departments, private businesses, non-profit community based organizations, health care providers, and others. It is funded primarily through federal money, the exception being the Traumatic Brain Injury Fund and Spinal Cord and Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation Fund which are passed through to 501(I)(3) agencies in the form of contracts.

The Violence and Injury Prevention Program conducts and/or provides significant support to the following projects and activities: Teen Motor Vehicle Safety, Motor Vehicle Seat Belt Campaign, Child Safety Seat Campaign, Child Booster Seat Campaign, Domestic Violence Fatality Review, Child Fatality Review Committee, Utah Violent Death Reporting System, Falls Prevention Among Older Adults, Rape and Sexual Assault Prevention Project, Traumatic Brain Injury Surveillance Project, Traumatic Brain Injury Fund and Contracts, Safe Kids Utah, and others. The Violence and Injury Prevention Program contracts with all local health departments, providing funding and technical support for local injury prevention programs that address: teen motor vehicle safety, seat belt, booster seat, child car seat use, bicycle safety, and pedestrian safety. Additionally, the Violence and Injury Prevention Program contracts with non-profit, community-based organizations to provide: (1) primary prevention rape and sexual assault activities in their communities, (2) traumatic brain injury resource facilitation services, education and prevention services, and (3) traumatic spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation services.

Additional information, reports, and data are available at http://health.utah.gov/vipp/.

Prescription Pain Medication Management Program

The Prescription Pain Medication Management Program's mission is to reduce deaths and other harm from prescription opiates through data collection, surveillance, and partner collaborations that focus on evaluation, public, provider, and patient education regarding safe use, disposal, and storage of prescription pain medications. Staff participate on Utah Pharmaceutical Drug Community Project and Utah Prevention Advisory Council.

Health Resource Center

The Health Resource Center strives to improve access to critical health information to better the health of families in Utah through outreach programs, telephone hotlines, and education services. The center provides answering service for more than 15 programs including the Children's Health Insurance Program, the Cancer Control Program and the Immunization Program, among others.

The Baby Your Baby Program provides a vehicle through which the Health Department can target audiences throughout the State with important health messages. The outreach program establishes public-private partnerships to promote healthy lifestyles, reduce health risks, and increase access to health care. This is accomplished through public service announcements and other television programs, radio and printed materials which address Department goals dealing with early prenatal care, folic acid, vaccine-preventable infections, injury, dental disease, obesity, and other important health issues.

Tobacco Prevention and Control Program

The Tobacco Prevention and Control Program provides technical expertise and coordination at State and community levels to prevent and reduce tobacco use in Utah. The goals of the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program are to promote quitting among young people and adults, prevent initiation of tobacco use among young people, eliminate nonsmokers' exposure to secondhand smoke, and identify and eliminate disparities in tobacco use among populations groups.

Statewide and Community-based Services to Help Tobacco Users Quit

Quitting tobacco at any age provides health benefits and increases life expectancy. To help Utah tobacco users quit, the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program offers the following quit services:

  • Waytoquit.org - Utah's online resource for quitting services
  • The Utah Tobacco Quit Line, (800) QUIT-NOW
  • Medicaid coverage of tobacco cessation services for pregnant women and for the cessation medications Zyban and Chantix.
  • Tobacco Prevention and Control Public Awareness Campaign

    The way to quit media campaign is multi-pronged, targeting prevention and quitting among mainstream and high-risk youth, adults, pregnant women, ethnic groups, and rural populations through a mix of media including radio, TV, and outdoor advertising. The campaign directly or indirectly impacts most Utah residents. The Tobacco Prevention and Control Program evaluates the reach and impact of the media campaign with annual surveys of 1,200 randomly selected Utah teens, adult smokers, and non-smokers. Some campaign components include:

    • Quit smoking campaign to promote the Utah Tobacco Quit Line and online counseling services.
    • Materials and messages that also serve as prevention messages targeting at-risk youth and young adults.
    • Advertisements designed to increase awareness of health risks associated with secondhand smoke and related policies.

    Prevention Partnerships with Local Health Departments, Schools, and Communities

    Evidence-based school programs promote strong "no tobacco use" attitudes among students, increase students' knowledge of the dangers of tobacco, and teach students skills to resist peer influences. School programs are most effective when they are part of comprehensive school tobacco policies that include enforcement of rules against tobacco use, tobacco prevention education for students in all grades, access to cessation services, and involvement of families and communities in tobacco prevention. Tobacco Prevention and Control Program prevention services include:

    • Collaboration with select school districts to strengthen and better enforce school tobacco policies.
    • Evidence based anti-tobacco curricula for students.
    • Anti-tobacco activities and presentations in schools and communities across Utah.
    • Working with Utah's statewide youth anti-tobacco movement, OUTRAGE!, to ensure that youth play an important role in developing and spreading anti-tobacco messages.

    Efforts to Reduce Exposure to Secondhand Smoke:

    • Secondhand smoke kills over 50,000 Americans annually by causing fatal diseases such as heart disease and cancer. Children exposed to secondhand smoke suffer from low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, pneumonia, ear infections, and bronchitis. To reduce Utahns' exposure to secondhand smoke, the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program and its partners work to enforce the provisions of the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act, and encourage voluntary smoke-free policies in homes, worksites not covered by the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act, and outdoor venues.

    Youth Access to Tobacco

    Utah law prohibits tobacco sales to minors under the age of 19. Local health departments collaborate with retailers and law enforcement to ensure compliance with youth access laws through retailer education, retailer recognition, and compliance checks.

Intent Language

HB0003: Item 77

Under Section 63J-1-603 of the Utah Code, the Legislature intends that up to $500,000 of Item 22 of Chapter 13, Laws of Utah 2014, for the Department of Health's Disease Control and Prevention line item for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention reduction, cessation, and control programs shall not lapse at the close of Fiscal Year 2015. The use of any nonlapsing funds is limited to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention, reduction, cessation, and control programs or for emergent disease control and prevention needs.


HB0003: Item 77

Under Section 63J-1-603 of the Utah Code, the Legislature intends that up to $525,000 of Item 22 of Chapter 13, Laws of Utah 2014 for the Department of Health's Disease Control and Prevention line item shall not lapse at the close of Fiscal Year 2015. The use of any nonlapsing funds is limited to laboratory equipment, computer equipment, software, and building improvements.


HB0003: Item 77

Under Section 63J-1-603 of the Utah Code, the Legislature intends that up to $175,000 of Item 22 of Chapter 13, Laws of Utah 2014 for the Department of Health's Disease Control and Prevention line item shall not lapse at the close of Fiscal Year 2015. The use of any nonlapsing funds is limited to maintenance or replacement of computer equipment, software, or other purchases or services that improve or expand the services provided by the Bureau of Epidemiology.


HB0003: Item 77

Under Section 63J-1-603 of the Utah Code, the Legislature intends that up to $250,000 of Item 21 of Chapter 13, Laws of Utah 2014 fees collected for the Newborn Screening Program shall not lapse at the close of Fiscal Year 2015. The use of any nonlapsing funds is limited to maintenance, upgrading, replacement, or purchase of laboratory or computer equipment and software.


SB0003: Item 116

Under Section 63J-1-603 of the Utah Code the Legislature intends that up to $75,000 funds of Item 22 of Chapter 13, Laws of Utah 2014, not otherwise designated as nonlapsing to the Department of Health - Disease Control and Prevention line item shall not lapse at the close of Fiscal Year 2015. The use of any nonlapsing funds is for services to people with traumatic brain injury.


SB0007S01: Item 2

The Legislature intends that the Department of Health report on the following performance measures for the Disease Control and Prevention line item: (1) Gonorrhea cases per 100,000 population (Target = 18.9 people or less), (2) Percentage of Adults Who Are Current Smokers (Target = 9%), and (3) Percentage of Toxicology Cases Completed within 14 day Goal (Target = 100%) by January 1, 2016 to the Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee.


SB0007S01: Item 2

The Legislature intends that the Department of Health research and report government entities paying for services that could be provided by the State Laboratory and give this information to the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst by September 1, 2015. The report shall include: (1) the name of the government entity, (2) amount paid for the service, (3) what the cost would be if the service was provided by the State Laboratory, and (4) any potential barriers to the State Laboratory for bidding on those services. The Department of Health shall also detail its assumptions for its costs on all laboratory services that government entities are purchasing in the private sector.


SB0007S01: Item 12

The Legislature intends that the Department of Health report on the following performance measures for the Disease Control and Prevention line item: (1) Gonorrhea cases per 100,000 population (Target = 18.9 people or less), (2) Percentage of Adults Who Are Current Smokers (Target = 9%), and (3) Percentage of Toxicology Cases Completed within 14 day Goal (Target = 100%) by January 1, 2016 to the Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee.


SB0007S01: Item 12

The Legislature intends that the Department of Health research and report government entities paying for services that could be provided by the State Laboratory and give this information to the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst by September 1, 2015. The report shall include: (1) the name of the government entity, (2) amount paid for the service, (3) what the cost would be if the service was provided by the State Laboratory, and (4) any potential barriers to the State Laboratory for bidding on those services. The Department of Health shall also detail its assumptions for its costs on all laboratory services that government entities are purchasing in the private sector.


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COBI contains unaudited data as presented to the Legislature by state agencies at the time of publication. For audited financial data see the State of Utah's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports.