260563 Public Health Law Collaboration in State and Local Health Agencies: Opportunities Moving Forward

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 12:45 PM - 1:00 PM

Jennifer Ibrahim, PhD, MPH , Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Nija Rivera, MPH , Department of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Scott Burris, JD, LLD , Beasley School of Law, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Nancy Kaufman, RN, MS , Strategic Vision Group, LLC, Mequon, WI
Ira Kaufman, PhD , Strategic Vision Group, LLC, Mequon, WI
     
Research Objective: To explore legal consciousness of state and local public health officials and their legal counsel, to understand the nature of the lawyer-health official relationship and to identify barriers and facilitators to the relationship.

Methods: We surveyed health officials and associated legal counsel in all states and a sample of local agencies. We drew a stratified random sample of 10 states (based on organizational/governance characteristics) and within each state, we drew a stratified random sample of four local health departments based on population served (40 local health departments 80 total participants). We conducted semi-structured interviews with the health official and legal counsel in the 10 states and the 40 local jurisdictions.

Results: While health officials and legal counsel view public health law in fundamentally different ways, both report that current interactions are largely reactive (respond to litigation, draft contracts, respond to public record requests) rather than proactive (use legal powers as tool to promote health). Barriers to collaboration include time and resources, availability of training, lack of institutional culture to collaborate across departments, and variations in legal and public health knowledge and attitudes.

Conclusions: Effective collaboration between health officials and legal counsel is possible, and examples exist. Health officials and their counsel agree that increasing the effective use of law as a tool for public health, and better legal management of health agencies, will require improvements in organizational structure, resources, and legal and public health capacities.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
- To describe the concept of legal consciousness and the implications for public health practice. - To explain the current thinking and use of law in health departments at the state and local level. - To evaluate the associations between organizational structure and use of law as a tool to advance population health.

Keywords: Law, Health Departments

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have spent the last year studying the role of law in health departments and I am the PI on the study. I am also the Associate Director of the National Program Office for Public Health Law Research.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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