Resources for Policy Makers

This page is intended to help policy makers — including legislators and agency officials such as planners, transportation officials, environmental regulators and environmental impact assessment staff — find information, guidance and resources that will help them factor health into new projects, policies and programs.

The definition of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) from the National Research Council report, “Improving Health in the United States: The Role of Health Impact Assessment.”

HIA is a systematic process that uses an array of data sources and analytic methods and considers input from stakeholders to determine the potential effects of a proposed policy, plan, program or project on the health of a population and the distribution of those effects within the population. HIA provides recommendations on monitoring and managing those effects.