What Predicts Local Public Health Agency Performance Improvement?

A Pilot Study in North Carolina

In North Carolina, the experience level of the local public health workforce was a predictor of teen pregnancy rates from 1999–2004. A study of local health agencies revealed workforce characteristics that determined the presence of critical services.

Local public health agencies (LPHAs) are pivotal sites within the health care system. Their organization and function reflects the broader philosophy and purpose of public health. Improving the performance of LPHAs requires an understanding of how resources within a given LPHA impact the agency's performance.

This study used multiple levels of statistical analysis to identify organizational characteristics that predicted LPHA performance improvement. Analysts compiled a set of indicators, common LPHA services that served as measures of performance. Bivariate and multivariate analyses merged indicator and predictor datasets. This report's "methods" section gives background for each data source.

Key Findings:

  • Higher expenditures alone will not, as a matter of course, bring about improvements in LPHA performance.
  • The number of full-time employees was significant in predicting family planning caseloads. More nonhealth professionals correlated with improvements in family planning services.

In a study of LPHAs in North Carolina during the years 1999–2004 specific workforce characteristics including age, education level, and experience predicted improvements in LPHA performance.

April Issue of Health Affairs Focuses on Patient Safety and Health Care Quality

  1. 1 The Ongoing Quality Improvement Journey
  2. 2 A Road Map for Improving the Performance of Performance Measures
  3. 3 The Trade-Off Among Quality, Quantity, and Cost
  4. 4 Global Trigger Tool' Shows that Adverse Events in Hospitals May be Ten Times Greater Than Previously Measured
  5. 5 Preventing Bloodstream Infections
  6. 6 Measuring the Performance of Individual Physicians by Collecting Data from Multiple Health Plans
  7. 7 Measuring Health Care Performance Now, Not Tomorrow
  8. 8 Despite Improved Quality of Care in the Veterans Affairs Health System, Racial Disparity Persists for Important Clinical Outcomes
  9. 9 The Importance of Transitional Care in Achieving Health Reform
  10. 10 An Early Status Report on the Beacon Communities' Plans for Transformation Via Health Information Technology
  11. 11 A Comparative Study of 11 Local Health Department Organizational Networks
  12. 12 Public Health Performance
  13. 13 A Self-Assessment Process for Accreditation Preparedness
  14. 14 Public Health Delivery Systems
  15. 15 Regionalization in Local Public Health Systems
  16. 16 Public Health Services and Systems Research
  17. 17 A Shot in the Rear, Not a Shot in the Dark
  18. 18 What Predicts Local Public Health Agency Performance Improvement?
  19. 19 Growth of a Scientific Community of Practice
  20. 20 Evolution of Coauthorship in Public Health Services and Systems Research
  21. 21 Resources that May Matter
  22. 22 Evidence Links Increases in Public Health Spending to Declines in Preventable Deaths
  23. 23 Public Health Financial Management Competencies
  24. 24 Decision Science
  25. 25 Public Health Financial Management Needs
  26. 26 Data-Driven Management Strategies in Public Health Collaboratives
  27. 27 Using Geographic Information Systems to Match Local Health Needs with Public Health Services and Programs
  28. 28 Public Health Systems and Services Research
  29. 29 Local Public Health Capacities to Address the Needs of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations
  30. 30 A Needs Assessment for Data and Methods in Public Health Systems Research
  31. 31 Mapping the Multidisciplinary Field of Public Health Services and Systems Research

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