Hawaii-IBIS Background
Indicator-Based
Hawaii-IBIS stands for Hawaii's Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health. Outcome measures found in the Hawaii-IBIS System are indicators of important public health constructs. The Hawaii State Department of Health regularly examines outcome measures to:
- Track and evaluate progress toward goals.
- Guide policy decisions, priorities and long-range strategic plans.
- Develop, focus, and streamline data collection and reporting capacity.
- Provide comprehensive information of Hawaii's health and health care system.
The Hawaii State Department of Health works together with internal and external stakeholders to standardize health system indicators across programs and to maintain public accessibility to these critical measures. The Department also relies on the U.S. Public Health Service's Healthy People 2020 health objectives to systematically track population health against these national goals. A HealthyPeople 2020 Tracker for the state of Hawaii is available on our sister site, Hawaii Health Matters.
Goals of the Hawaii State Department of Health
- Eliminate disparities and improve the health of all groups throughout Hawaii.
- Attain lifelong quality health free from preventable disease, avoidable disability, and premature death.
- Mitigate, respond to, and recover from external natural or man-made threats impacting individual and community well-being.
- Create social and physical environments that promote and support good health for all.
- Develop internal systems to assure timely consumer responsiveness and satisfaction.
Why an IBIS?
An ibis is the symbol for the ancient Egyptian god Thoth. He was often depicted
as an ibis-headed man holding a pen and a palette. He was the god of writing and
learning, wisdom, and many other things. Some sources say he was god of magic and
medicine (which were not distinct concepts in ancient Egypt). Thoth is also credited
with the invention of writing and numbers.
