Public Deliberation in Service to Health Equity: Investing Resources in Roanoke, Virginia

This paper describes how members of the city planning department of Roanoke, Virginia, used public deliberation to incorporate community views into local government decision making, in service to health equity. The authors present an overview of public deliberation and the specifics of this case study, including motivations, methods, and outcomes.

Increased efforts have been made to engage community members in health and health care decision making processes. Public deliberation is one method used to this end, specifically when there is a value-laden issue that cannot be decided through technical solutions alone. Public deliberation solicits input from a cross-section of informed participants who will be affected by a decision and provides the deliberation sponsor with thoughtful reflections of constituent values and priorities.

National Academy of Medicine.