Public Health Financing: Results of the NACCHO 2005 National Profile of Local Health Departments

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Julie Nelson Ingoglia, MPH, National Association of County and City Health Officials, 1100 17th St NW, 2nd Floor, Washington, DC 20036, 202-783-5550 ext 244, jnelson@naccho.org

In this presentation, being submitted as part of the proposed public health financing session, The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) will describe various aspects of rural local health departments (LHDs) in the U.S. It is important to understand how numerous changes in public health practice since the last survey of LHDs (1996) have affected the various financing and system issues of rural LHDs. The 2005 National Profile of Local Health Departments was administered as a web-based questionnaire to every LHD in the U.S (n=2865). A core set of questions was included in each questionnaire, including questions on governance, financing, workforce and activities and services provided. In addition, a random sample of health departments, stratified by population served, received one of three modules (n=550 for each module). Questionnaires were first distributed in June 2005; and data collection closed in November 2005. The conclusions explored in this presentation, based on data analysis that began in January 2006, will provide valuable information to state and federal agencies, policymakers and advocates to better understand local public health financing practice.

Learning Objectives:

Describe a comprehensive picture of rural LHDs as based on The 2005 National Profile data.
Analyze comparisons among rural and other health departments to identify differences in governance, financing, workforce and activities and services provided.
Identify a critical data set for public health researchers exploring specific hypotheses related to characteristics of rural and other LHDs.

Keywords: Rural Health Service Providers, Rural Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation

Financing Public Health Services: Research and Practice

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA