Online Program

288989
Measuring public health services: The impact of a Colorado ruling on minimum core services


Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 5:10 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Adam J. Atherly, PhD, Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO
Julie Marshall, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center, Aurora, CO
Lisa VanRaemdonck, MPH, MSW, Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials, Denver, CO
Sarah Lampe, MPH, Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials, Denver, CO
Sarah Schmiege, PhD, Department of Biostatistics and Informatics, Colorado School of Public Health, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
The 2012 Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report For the Public's Health: Investing in a Healthier Future recommends that all public health departments should provide a minimum package of public health services. Currently, little is known either about the level of core public health services provided or about public health agency's ability to change the services they provide. Through implementation of the Public Health Act of 2008, the State Board of Health was mandated to create a list of core services that should be provided across Colorado. Baseline data was collected on what services were currently provided prior to Board rulemaking in October 2011. The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of core service requirements on the adoption and delivery of core services by local governmental public health agencies (LPHAs); to examine LPHA-level structural capacity factors related to change in the level of adoption of core services by LPHAs; and to examine changes in health outcomes related to change in the level of adoption of core services by LPHAs. The study design is a longitudinal pre-post analysis of agency-level changes in core services provision among all 54 LPHAs in Colorado. We found that prior to the implementation of the core services requirement, core services were provided in a basic way in 7 of the 9 core service areas in most LPHA jurisdictions. Follow up data collection will be completed this spring to show change in LPHA services and describe structural capacity factors that may impact service change.

Learning Areas:

Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Describe the effects of the implementation of core services through service delivery measures at local public health agencies in Colorado.

Keyword(s): Public Health Policy, Public Health Administration

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an experienced health services researcher and am PI on this project.
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.