Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is one of Maine’s standard health behavior surveillance systems, data from which informs policy development, program planning, and other public health interventions for chronic disease prevention. This project will assist the Maine BRFSS coordinator and the Maine CDC to achieve BRFSS objectives. Muskie School staff will update the BRFSS interactive web query as well as maintain multiple-year standardized datasets, add the most recent year of data, and update documentation. Muskie staff will also perform other analyses as necessary, including multivariate and trend analyses to help the Maine CDC better understand prevalence, risk factors and disease management for health behaviors and conditions (such as diabetes, asthma, and cardiovascular disease) that impose a heavy burden on the residents of Maine and its health care system.

With funding from the Maine Health Access Foundation, Muskie School faculty and staff worked with the Maine Development Foundation and the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine to develop and deliver a day-long educational forum for the Maine legislature on health care on January 26, 2007. In addition to a keynote address by Dr. Karen Davis from the Commonwealth Fund, breakout sessions with accompanying Issue Briefs were held on a variety of topics including Medicaid, rural health, workforce, health information technology, state health reform, Maine?s Dirigo health reform initiative, behavioral health, public health, and Maine?s aging population. All Issue Briefs and presentations from the Forum are available for viewing and download from the Muskie School?s website at http://muskie.usm maine.edu