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Healthier Tennessee Priority

Goal: To promote healthy behavior and provide high quality services to our most vulnerable populations.

The administration believes individuals must take ownership of their health, and we are working to promote healthy decisions and responsible behavior.  The state also plays a role in dealing with public health challenges as well as serving some of our most vulnerable populations, including children in state custody, low income individuals and families receiving Medicaid benefits or obtaining services through our health clinics, and the intellectually disabled.  The administration is working hard to make sure we are providing high quality and cost effective services to these populations.

The 15 determinant measures account for 75 percent of the overall ranking and the 7 outcome measures account for 25 percent. The numerical value is the weighted sum of the number of standard deviations each core measure is from the national average.

TN Overall Health Ranking

    Source: "America's Health Rankings," United Health Foundation (2017).

Smoking percentages for the State of Tennessee.

Chart depicting the percentage of the state's population over age 18 that smokes on a regular basis.

       Source: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Population obesity percentages for the State of Tennessee.

Population obesity percentages for the State of Tennessee. The percent of adults categorized as obese. An adult is considered obese if their body mass index (BMI) is 30 or greater.

     Source: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance system, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Population infant mortality percentages for the State of Tennessee.

Population infant mortality percentages for the State of Tennessee. (the number of infant deaths per 1,000 births).

     Source: "Infant Mortality Rates by State," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The National Immunization Survey (NIS) measures the percentage of children in Tennessee and nationally between 19 and 35 months of age who have been completely vaccinated against 11 serious diseases: by the year 2020, the national goal is for 80% of these children to be completely vaccinated.

To count as completely vaccinated, a child must have had 4 doses of DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis), 3 doses of polio vaccine, 1 dose of MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), 3 doses of Hib vaccine, 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine, 1 dose of varicella (chickenpox) vaccine, and four doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV): they call it the “4:3:1:3:3:1:4” series.

Chart depicting population immunization coverage for the State of Tennessee, specifically, the percentage of children between 19 and 35 months of age who have been completely vaccinated against 11 serious diseases. The percentages are rendered as follows: 70.1% Immunized and 29.9% Non Immunized.

    Source: "National Immunization Survey," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016).

Population Teen Birth Rate for the State of Tennessee.

Population teen birth rate percentages for the State of Tennessee. (the number of births per 1,000 women age 15 to 19).

     Source: "Teen Birth Rates by State," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Home and Community-Based Care percentages for the State of Tennessee.

Chart depicting State of TN Percentages for long-term care individuals (both elderly and adults with physical disabilities) in home and community-based care as opposed to nursing facilities.

     Source: 2017, TennCare.