Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Use Of Facebook By Local Health Departments: Activity And Focus Areas, Rakhi Trivedi, Gulzar H. Shah

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

This presentation was given at the Keeneland Conference for Public Health Systems and Services Research.

Characteristics Of Local Health Departments Associated With Their Implementation Of Electronic Health Records And Other Informatics System, Gulzar H. Shah, Jonathon P. Leider, Brian C. Castrucci, Karmen S. Williams, Huabin Luo

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

Background: Information technology and information systems (IT/IS) play a critical role in the daily operation of local health departments (LHDs). Assessing LHDs’ informatics capacities is important, especially within the context of broader, system-level health reform efforts.

Research Objective: This study assesses a nationally representative sample of LHDs’ level of adoption of information systems, technology, and the factors associated with adoption/implementation. Specifically, five areas of public health informatics were examined: electronic health records (EHRs), health information exchange (HIE), immunization registry (IR), electronic disease reporting system (EDRS), and electronic lab reporting (ELR).

Data Sets and Sources: Data from NACCHO’s 2013 National Profile …

Lhds' Implementation And Evaluation Of Strategies To Target Psychological, Mental Health, And Other Behavioral Healthcare Needs Of The Underserved Population, Gulzar H. Shah, Huabin Luo, Carolyn J. Leep, Nancy L. Winterbauer

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

Background: Underserved subgroups face barriers when accessing behavioral healthcare. Local health departments (LHDs) are charged with “linking people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of healthcare when otherwise unavailable”.

Research Objectives: 1) To assess the extent to which LHDs implement and evaluate strategies to target the behavioral healthcare needs for the underserved populations; 2) To identify factors that are associated with these undertakings.

Datasets and Sources: Data were drawn from the 2013 National Profile of Local Health Departments Study conducted by National Association of County and City Health Officials The Module 2 questionnaire of the Profile contained …

Local Public Health In Financial Crises: Common Decision Drivers For Changes In Services Due To Economic Downturn, Gulzar H. Shah

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

We measured the impact of the 2008-2010 economic recession on local health departments (LHDs) across the United States. Between 2008 and 2010, we conducted 3 Web-based, cross-sectional surveys of a nationally representative sample of LHDs to assess cuts to budgets, workforce, and programs. By early 2010, more than half of the LHDs (53%) were experiencing cuts to their core funding. In excess of 23 000 LHDs jobs were lost in 2008-2009. All programmatic areas were affected by cuts, and more than half of protecting the health of the public, such as monitoring health status to identify and solve community health …

Community Health Assessment Activity By Lhds: The Influence Of Local Health Agency And Community Characteristics, Gulzar H. Shah, Barbara Laymon, Carolyn Leep, Julia Elligers

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

Research Objective: This study investigates organizational and community characteristics associated with the likelihood of local health departments to conduct community health assessments (CHAs).

Study Design: For this observational study, we used data from the 2010 National Profile of Local Health Departments Study (Profile). Using the FIPS codes for the county and place, additional data were merged with Profile data to capture community characteristics. To compute estimates of community characteristics for LHDs involving multiple cities/counties, we computed population weighted averages. In order to estimate unbiased population parameters, we used appropriate statistical weights in all analyses, to account for disproportionate non-responses …

Predictors Of Evidence-Based Decision Making And Population Health Practice In Lhds, Kay Lovelace, Robert Aronson, Kelly Rulison, Gulzar H. Shah, Mark Smith

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

Research Objective: To identify the frequency with which LHDs carry out Evidence-Based Decision Making (EBDM) and population health strategies in LHDs and state-, LHD-, and community-levels predictors of LHDs' use of these strategies.

Data Sets and Sources: Harmonized PHSSR dataset consisting of 2010 NACCHO Profile of Local Health Departments Survey, Module 2 respondents, 2010 ASTHO Profile of State Health Departments, US Census data, and Area Resource File data.

Study Design: The study used multivariate analysis to identify predictors of EBDM and population health. We identified items in the 2010 NACCHO Profile Survey representing EBDM and population health strategies and …

Local Health Departments’ Plan To Seek Voluntary National Accreditation And Its Association With Phab Accreditation Prerequisites, Gulzar H. Shah, Kate Beatty, Carolyn Leep

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

Research Objective: To examine the nature of relationship between LHDs’ intentions to seek Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) accreditation in the future and having completed within five years the three PHAB pre-requisites: community health assessment (CHA), community health improvement plan (CHIP), and the agency-wide strategic plan.

Data Sets And Sources: We used data from the NACCHO’s 2010 National Profile of Local Health Departments (2010 Profile Study) survey, administered to 2,656 LHDs, with a module sent to a nationally representative stratified random sample of 625 LHDs which contained questions on LHDs’ plans to seek voluntary national accreditation (the dependent …

Diffusion Of Practice-Based Research In Local Public Health: What Differentiates Adopters From Non-Adopters?, Gulzar H. Shah, Kay Lovelace, Reba Novich

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

Objective: To improve session-participants’ understanding of level of local health departments’ (LHDs) involvement in various practice-based research (PBR) activities. Practice-based public health research is gaining increased recognition for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public health practice.

Data: Data are drawn from NACCHO’s 2010 National Profile of LHDs Study. Questions about LHDs’ participation in PBR were administered to a stratified random sample of 625 LHDs.

Findings: Over the 12 months prior to the study 38 percent of LHDs did not participate in any PBR activity and another five percent of respondents did not know if their health department …

Extent And Nature Of Resource Sharing Among Local Health Departments, Joshua Vest, Gulzar H. Shah

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

Objective: Collaborative arrangements between local health departments (LHDs) by which they share services, responsibilities, or staff, is a growing occurrence in the US. This phenomenon is referred to as regionalization, resource sharing, or intra-state resource sharing. Participants of this session will learn about the current state of resource sharing among LHDs in terms of the public health activities, nature of the relationships, and geography. We will also discuss which characteristics of LHDs are associated with resource-sharing.

Data Source: Data for this analysis come from the National Association of City & County Health Official's 2010 Profile of Local Health Departments. The …

The Resilient Local Health Department: Attributes Of Survival During The Economic Crisis, Paul C. Erwin, Gulzar H. Shah

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

The purpose of this research is to explore the attributes of local health departments (LHDs) which have survived the recent economic crises without loss of staff. A retrospective cohort study is being conducted, using the 2005 and 2010 Profile of Local Health Departments datasets from the National Association of County and City Health Officials. LHDs which responded to both surveys and which provided data on full-time equivalents (FTEs) and expenditures are included for analysis. LHDs are categorized as resilient or non-resilient based on whether the LHD gained or did not lose FTEs between 2005 and 2010 (“resilient LHD”) vs. those …

Local Health Departments’ Governance: A Visual Display Using Lhd Shape Files, Gulzar H. Shah Dr., Carolyn J. Leep, Reba Novich

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

Analyses conducted for public health systems and services research (PHSSR) frequently include a variable that represents the relationship between state and local health departments (i.e., a governance category) in their analyses, either as an explanatory variable or a control variable. A number of organizations and researchers has categorized states according to governance, but the categorizations have been inconsistent across studies. This lack of agreement regarding governance category has been problematic for PHSSR.

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) in conjunction with NORC at the University of Chicago and with input from the National Association of County and …