Legal and Policy Tools that Promote Health Impact Assessments to Achieve Health in All Policies

Health in All Policies (HiAP) is a systems level initiative that ensures policy decisions consider health, and have a neutral or beneficial impact on the determinants of health. Health impact assessment (HIA) is one strategy to achieve HiAP. HIA is a systematic process that brings together health data and stakeholder input to identify the potential health effects of proposed policies, projects, plans, or programs. HIAs also make pragmatic recommendations about how to minimize risks and maximize health benefits. This presentation will illustrate the connections between HIA and HiAP, and describe promising legal and policy approaches that promote the use of HIA. This presentation will summarize findings from a review of existing laws, regulations, standards, and administrative procedures at the federal, state, or local levels that directly authorize or support the application and use of HIA. Specific case examples from around the U.S. of how legal and policy tools are being used to promote HIA to achieve HiAP will also be discussed. Through this work, several lessons for the field have emerged, and key considerations for policymakers and public health advocates interested in promoting the use of legal and policy tools that can advance HIA will be presented. As the use of HIA continues to expand nationally, these findings illustrate legal and policy avenues that offer the most potential for establishing HIA as a standard practice in multiple sectors, which is needed to support HiAP and bring health into decision-making in the U.S.