2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

331571
Using Policy Surveillance to Advance Health and Facilitate Public Health Practice in Nebraska


Monday, November 2, 2015

Jennifer Ibrahim, PhD, MPH, College of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Elizabeth Platt, JD, Temple University
David Presley, JD, Temple University
Darrell Klein, JD, General Counsel Section, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Lincoln, NE

Colleen Svoboda, MPH, Community Health and Performance Management, Nebraska Division of Public Health, Lincoln, NE
Background: Previous research has demonstrated that there is not clear awareness or understanding of public health laws and how they can be used as effective tools to improve workforce performance and population health. The purpose of the study was to collect and code state and local laws that govern public health practice in Nebraska and use the data to evaluate the impact on performance and changes in health behaviors.

Methods: Nebraska laws that govern public health practice were collected through searches of LexisNexis and Westlaw, as well as consultation with experienced public health staff and lawyers. Laws were coded in LawAtlas and a publicly available interactive website was created. The legal data was then merged with longitudinal performance and surveillance data and analyzed using time series regressions.

Findings:  A total of 18 legal datasets were created ranging from alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, chronic injury and disease to health professions licensure, structure and governance and vital statistics. By merging the legal datasets with data information on health department performance, such as clean indoor air enforcement, and health behaviors, such as tobacco use, we were able to evaluate laws at the level of provisions rather than just dichotomous measures of the law and evaluate the impact.

Conclusions: The project could be a first step towards helping public health practitioners and researchers better evaluate the impact of law on the delivery of public health services and population health, as well as consider amendments to current laws in response to the existing evidence base.

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:
Define the process for collecting and coding laws that govern public health practice at the state and local level in Nebraska. Discuss ways in which to use policy surveillance to assess the impact of laws on population health and health department performance. Describe the potential benefits and challenges of implementing and using a system of policy surveillance in a health department.

Keyword(s): Health Law, Public Health Administration

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Associate Director of the Public Health Law Research National Program Office, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. I have been working in teaching and research of public health law for the last 12 years. I am the PI on the project that will be discussed during the presentation.
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.

Back to: 3041.0: Health organization and program/academic partnership to further program/policy development