Being Accountable for Capability-Getting Public Health Reform Right This Time

Underinvestment in our nation's public health system continues to diminish COVID-19 control efforts.1 Successive waves of the COVID-19 pandemic are a Sisyphean nightmare proving that we do not have a public health system that has the capacity to learn and improve through time and experience. Bu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2022-10, Vol.112 (10), p.1374-1378
Main Authors: Bishai, David M, Resnick, Beth, Lamba, Sneha, Cardona, Carolina, Leider, Jonathon P, McCullough, J Mac, Gemmill, Alison
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountable Care Organizations
Accreditation
Assessments
Budgets
Coronaviruses
Counties
COVID-19
Departments
Expenditures
Funding
Government grants
Health care policy
Health Care Reform
Health services
Humans
Local government
Pandemics
Per capita
Public Health
Quality improvement
Social Responsibility
Surveillance
United States
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Summary:Underinvestment in our nation's public health system continues to diminish COVID-19 control efforts.1 Successive waves of the COVID-19 pandemic are a Sisyphean nightmare proving that we do not have a public health system that has the capacity to learn and improve through time and experience. Budget data and workforce capability assessments from local public health agencies do not allow for a detailed assessment of public health capabilities. Top-down efforts to gather these assessments have to date not resulted in robust data to assess and track the capabilities of our public health system.Public health's intransigent unreadiness stems in part from chronic underfunding. State and local health departments have seen little to no real growth in per capita spending for decades.2,3 Underfunding has led to capability gaps at both state and county levels. This article highlights past spending levels on foundational capabilities in state and county public health departments to inform efforts to rebuild a responsive and accountable public health system.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2022.306975