Informing the design of funding-allocation formulas in public health (Phase 2)

The Foundation's Public Health Systems Research program was designed to help establish the field of public health systems research as a needed resource that will enable governmental health agencies to improve their performance. Public health program managers often use formula-based calculations to allocate funds among constituent jurisdictions, including allocations among states for federal programs and allocations among localities for state programs. With the exception of Health Resources and Services Administration's Ryan White HIV CARE program, there has been little formal assessment in public health of the impacts on allocations of various formula design options, of the relationship between these options and program objectives, and of the feasibility of incorporating performance incentives into allocation formulas. Drawing on examples from actual and hypothetical federal public health programs, this research will characterize the impacts on state allocations of options for: (1) selecting a primary data source (e.g., population attributes, measures of need, historical funding precedents); and (2) adjusting allocations for variations among jurisdictions in the cost of providing services by others in evaluating the Ryan White formula and work by a member of the project team in collaboration with two state public health agencies. The findings will provide public health managers with a broader evidence base for determining whether to use a funding formula and, if so, for designing the formula. This grant is being transferred from Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, to Florida Atlantic University.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $63,178.00

Awarded on: 6/14/2010

Time frame: 7/1/2010 - 6/30/2011

Grant Number: 67771