For nearly three decades, we have been working with the top scientists and health promotion program leaders in the nation to help them articulate and share their knowledge about the most effective health promotion strategies. We have reached thousands of health promotion leaders who have applied these strategies to produce remarkable improvements in the health and quality of life of millions of people in corporate, community and clinical settings, and saved billions of dollars in medical costs, in addition to enhancing productivity in thousands of work settings.

 

This is a huge accomplishment we should all be proud of achieving.

 

The stakes just got higher. The just-released, long-term spending projections of the Congressional Budget Office indicate that annual federal spending on health care will reach 34% of all federal spending during our lifetimes and 50% during the lifetimes of our children.  If spending reaches this level, our nation will not survive.  One of the few ways we can prevent this from happening is by integrating health promotion programs into the fabric of every workplace, clinical, educational, commercial and social setting and improving the health of the entire population.

 

We need to act now to make these programs a reality, and acting now will create unprecedented opportunities for health promotion professionals who have the necessary skills.  

 

Our goals for this conference are threefold:  First, to provide a forum for engaging

discussions among practitioners, scientists, clinicians and business managers on the most effective health promotion strategies. Second, to provide reports from top scientists and practitioners on what we know about strategies to enhance motivation, build skills, and create environments that make the healthy choices the easiest choices. Third, to articulate a strategy to reach every person in the nation with outstanding health promotion programs.

 

We welcome proposals from scientists, practitioners, policy experts, and business leaders on how to enhance motivation, how to convey skills and how to create supportive environments. We are especially interested in strategies that have been documented through rigorous testing, systematic reviews of the literature and meta-analyses, however we are also open to emerging models that have shown promising results in practice settings.