Impact of Local Health Departments' (LHDs) Budget Cuts and Staff Reduction on Service Changes
Document Type
Presentation
Presentation Date
11-1-2016
Abstract or Description
Local health departments' have experienced substantial budget cuts and subsequent staff reductions, which may impact their ability to provide essential public health services, endangering food safety, water quality, emergency preparedness capacities etc. While budget cuts have decreased over the last several years, nearly a quarter of Local Health Departments (LHDs) are still affected through layoffs or attrition and decline in clinical and public health services. LHDs estimated to have lost 51,700 positions since 2008 due to budget cuts. The purpose of the research is to examine the impact budget cuts and staff reductions have on the services offered by LHDs. Our primary research question is, do budget cuts and staff reductions impact services offered by LHDs? Data from the 2015 Forces of Change Survey from the National Association of County and City Health Officials were analyzed using descriptive and bivariate statistics. The 2015 Forces of Change Survey used stratified random sampling design with state and population size as stratification criteria for sampling. A total of 948 LHDs in the United States were asked to complete the survey from January to February 2015. A total of 690 LHDs completed the survey (response rate of 73%). We used bivariate analysis employing non-parametric test (chi-square/Somers D). LHDs reporting a current fiscal year budget that is less than the previous year's budget are significantly more likely to have reduced services: epidemiology and surveillance (p=0.014), communicable disease screening or treatment (p=0.042), high blood pressure screening (p=0.005), diabetes screening (p=0.014), maternal and child health services (p=0.002), obesity prevention (p=0.009), tobacco, alcohol, and other drug prevention (p=0.027), and emergency preparedness (p=0.010). The research showed a significant relationship between the analyzed variables. Contributions of this study are of interest to public health and LHDs to show the impact of budgets and staffing on services that improve population health.
Sponsorship/Conference/Institution
American Public Health Association Annual Meeting (APHA)
Location
Denver, CO
Recommended Citation
Newell, Bobbie Jo, Gulzar H. Shah.
2016.
"Impact of Local Health Departments' (LHDs) Budget Cuts and Staff Reduction on Service Changes."
Department of Health Policy and Community Health Faculty Presentations.
Presentation 162.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/hpmb-facpres/162
