Journal of public health management and practice : JPHMP
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J Public Health Manag Pract · Mar 2007
Who gets how much: funding formulas in federal public health programs.
Federal public health programs use a mix of formula-based and competitive methods to allocate funds among states and other constituent jurisdictions. Characteristics of formula-based allocations used by a convenience sample of four programs, three from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and one from the Health Resources and Services Administration, are described to illustrate formula-based allocation methods in public health. ⋯ Formula-funded activities are supplemented by programs that target specific prevention needs or encourage development of innovative methods to address emerging problems, using set-aside funds. A public health finance research agenda should address ways to improve the fit between funding allocation formulas and program objectives.
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J Public Health Manag Pract · Mar 2007
Health center financial performance: national trends and state variation, 1998-2004.
For four decades, health centers have provided quality, cost-effective primary healthcare to underserved populations. Using the Uniform Data System, this study analyzes national trends in health center patients, providers, and financial performance for 1998-2004, and state-specific data for 2004. Between 1998 and 2004, health centers served increasing numbers of underserved patients, which included patients who were uninsured or on Medicaid, minorities, and patients at or below poverty level. ⋯ However, health centers became more self-sufficient over time, average net revenues increased, and operating margins were predominantly positive. Data on individual states, with different numbers and types of health centers, varied widely in all of these categories. In conclusion, health centers rely on federal and nonfederal grant support in concert with the Medicaid program as major funding sources and continued financial stability will be contingent upon health centers' ability to balance revenues with the cost of managing the vulnerable populations that they serve.
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J Public Health Manag Pract · Mar 2007
Refining estimates of public health spending as measured in national health expenditure accounts: the Canadian experience.
The recent focus on public health stemming from, among other things, severe acute respiratory syndrome and avian flu has created an imperative to refine health-spending estimates in the Canadian Health Accounts. This article presents the Canadian experience in attempting to address the challenges associated with developing the needed taxonomies for systematically capturing, measuring, and analyzing the national investment in the Canadian public health system. The first phase of this process was completed in 2005, which was a 2-year project to estimate public health spending based on a more classic definition by removing the administration component of the previously combined public health and administration category. ⋯ The Canadian Institute for Health Information is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides Canadians with essential statistics and analysis on the performance of the Canadian health system, the delivery of healthcare, and the health status of Canadians. The Canadian Institute for Health Information administers more than 20 databases and registries, including Canada's Health Accounts, which tracks historically 40 categories of health spending by 5 sources of finance for 13 provincial and territorial jurisdictions. Until 2005, expenditure on public health services in the Canadian Health Accounts included measures to prevent the spread of communicable disease, food and drug safety, health inspections, health promotion, community mental health programs, public health nursing, as well as all the costs for the general administration of government health departments.
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J Public Health Manag Pract · Nov 2005
The Northwest's Hot Topics in Preparedness forum: a novel distance-learning collaborative.
The Northwest Center for Public Health Practice at the University of Washington hosts a training forum, called Hot Topics in Preparedness, that is delivered via a synchronous, Web conferencing system. These monthly, 1-hour sessions focus on key topics related to emergency preparedness for public health professionals and their emergency response partners in the Northwest region. ⋯ Results of session evaluations, challenges, and lessons learned from the first year of the Hot Topics in Preparedness forum are reported. Web conferencing is a popular, convenient, and effective strategy for delivering training in the rapidly changing field of preparedness across a large geographic region.
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J Public Health Manag Pract · Nov 2005
Emergency department preparedness trainings in New York State: a needs assessment.
An assessment of preparedness training of emergency department (ED) staff in many upstate New York hospitals was carried out using an institutional review board-approved questionnaire. Several aspects of training such as content, quality, quantity, methodology, and skills obtained as a result of trainings were examined. The results suggest that respondents in upstate New York would like to see more training on specific topics of information (chemical and radiological concerns) and the utilization of new technologies, such as on-line courses, to optimize time commitments.