Compliance with the recommendations of the Institute of medicine report, The Future of Public Health: a survey of local health departments.

In 1989 a survey of state health officials was conducted to ascertain the extent that the recommendations of the 1988 Institute of Medicine's report, The Future of Public Health, were in place. We applied a similar survey in 1996 to assess the level of implementation of the IOM recommendations at the local health department level. Agreement with the specific IOM recommendations at the local level was, in almost all cases, greater than 90%. However, when one views the extent of these recommendations in place, nearly half fall below 50%. While there have been improvements in areas such as education of the public and outreach towards legislators and voluntary health organizations, our results show that there are still major short-comings when it comes to implementing the recommendations. Lack of resources at the local level appears to be the predominant cause of the low level of implementation, with restricted authority and lack of support also contributing to the problem. We feel the IOM recommendations can provide a strong foundation for our public health system, and hope these results help serve as a benchmark for further study.

Descriptive epidemiology of local public health systems.

This article, presented at the Research and Measurement of Public Health Core Functions Science Symposium sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in June 1994, provides selected data from the 1992-1993 National Profile of Local Health Departments. The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), in cooperation with the CDC Public Health Practice Program Office, recently completed the 1992-1993 National Profile of Local Health Departments. This study describes public health at the local level and updates the first Profile study, conducted in 1989. The study population included 2,888 local health departments (LHDs) in the United States. Responses were received from 72% of LHDs. Comparisons are made with the 1990 Profile where available. This article provides a selected overview of the information contained in the 1992-1993 Profile and includes structure of LHDs, top agency executive, staffing, expenditures, and planning. The findings have important ramifications for community health planners and policy makers at all levels. With the ongoing potential for change in the U.S. health care system, reliable data establishing baselines and monitoring trends in public health at the local level are important. The information in this report, and the 1992-1993 National Profile of Local Health Departments, updates and expands the available knowledge of LHD structures and activities.