County and City Health Departments: The Need for Sustainable Funding and the Potential Effect of Health Care Reform on their Operations

Source: Jack Meyer and Lori Weiselberg, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and National Association of County & City Health Officials, December 2009

From the summary:
Job losses and budget cuts directly tied to departments' ability to protect health.

The ability of local health departments to protect and improve health is in jeopardy, according to a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded report by Health Management Associates, an independent research group. State, county and city public health departments keep Americans healthy and safe and prevent disease and injury. Health departments help assure the safety of the water we drink, the restaurant food we eat and the air we breathe; they educate us about and respond to emerging health threats such as H1N1 influenza; they offer preventive care like vaccines; and they develop and enforce new policies and standards to create the conditions that make communities healthier.
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Policy Brief