Disease Reporting & Disease Control at both the state and local levels of public health governance: Results of a Pilot Study of Two Novel Performance Measures

BACKGROUND: In the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement, all performance measure (PM) data is currently gathered at the state health department (SHD) level. In 2009, OMEB created a set of novel PMs to collect disease reporting and disease control temporal data at both SHD and local health department (LHD) levels. In 2010, eight SHDs and 58 LHDs were recruited non-randomly for a 17-week pilot study.

METHODS: The two PMs: disease reporting (DR-timeliness of disease reporting to the public health agency) and disease control (DC-time from notification to initiation of control measures) target six reportable diseases. The SHDs and LHDs evaluated on a scale of 1-5 the PMs' relevance, feasibility and usefulness, and recommended implementation by indicating Yes (Y), Yes with modifications (Ym), or No (N).

RESULTS: Eight SHDs (100%) and 52 LHDs (89.7%) returned evaluations. For DR, SHD and LHD mean scores, respectively, were: relevance: 4.13, 3.77; feasibility: 3.75, 3.94; and usefulness: 3.88, 3.46. Seven (87.5%) SHDs and 42 (84.0%) of 50 LHDs recommended implementation (Y+Ym). For DC, the respective mean scores were: relevance: 4.25, 3.92; feasibility 3.25, 3.81; and usefulness: 4.00, 3.50. Seven (87.5%) SHDs and 47 (90.3%) of 52 LHDs recommended implementation.

CONCLUSION: SHDs & LHDs each supported implementing both surveillance PMs by >84%. Most SHDs rated relevance and usefulness higher; the LHDs rated feasibility higher. Overall, there is good likelihood that other SHDS and LHDS will view these PMs favorably, thus may result in better implementation, and provide better accountability for the funds dispersed.