Tobacco money’s use on state health will be scrutinized

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2002 | 9:29 a.m.

A task force that this year granted nearly $10 million for programs to promote public health in Nevada stepped back Tuesday to examine the work it has done and the work it has left to do.

The Task Force for the Fund for a Healthy Nevada, meeting in Las Vegas and Carson City, decided to come up with a formal way to decide on the state's health priorities before it spends the $900,000 left over from the last fiscal year.

The money comes from the portion of the federal tobacco settlement designated for health. Forty percent of the settlement pays for the Millennium Scholarship.

Nevada is estimated to get $1.2 billion over 25 years, meaning the task force will have similar decisions to make every year.

"We need to take a serious look at the money the task force has to spend and prioritize it so we can spend it in the best way," Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, the committee chairman, said. "Otherwise someone will make a case that we're blowing this money in the air. And believe me, they'll take it away."

The committee this year awarded $4.6 million to 23 organizations that work toward preventing and reducing tobacco use, which included the American Cancer Society, said Jane Smedes, a management analyst.

About $5.1 million was awarded to 25 other health organizations.

Funds were dispersed in June. Most grants are given out on a monthly basis, Smedes said.

Of the $900,000 that wasn't spent during the fiscal year ending in June 2002, $60,000 will be used to evaluate the current program and determine whether the money is being spent well.

But before the committee, made up of legislators and doctors, starts collecting public health data, such as birth and morbidity rates, Rawson asked members to create a list of the top five health priorities facing Nevadans. The panel will review the lists later this year.

"There isn't a magic way or a right or wrong way to do this," Dr. Randall Todd, state epidemiologist, said. "You need to find out what the concerns are in a community. But sometimes these concerns are subject to bias and they are difficult to interpret."

Assemblywoman Kathy McClain said senior citizens' health issues would be at the top of her list. Other committee members mentioned quality-of-life programs such as respite care facilities and hospices.

Todd rated cardiovascular disease, tobacco use and sexually transmitted diseases as the top three on his personal list of health concerns facing Nevadans.

But Rawson said the task force should also concentrate its efforts on health issues that don't score high but are of great importance to the community.

"My experience in the Legislature is we have political diseases," he said. "One year it's popular to fund one thing and the next year it's popular to fund something else. Those things may be important, but they're not working toward a concerted goal."