Background: The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa and confirmation of the first cases in the United States highlight the need for robust and responsive public health surveillance system. With a 25% decline in funding since 2007, the impact on local surveillance capacities has not previously been described.
Support for this project ended in 2015 - Frontiers
Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research is an open-access, rapid-response, peer-reviewed online journal offering brief, preliminary PHSSR findings from ongoing or recently completed empirical studies or quality improvement projects. Journal articles answer questions of importance regarding the organization, financing, and delivery of public health services; the structure, operation, and management of public health delivery systems; the application of quality improvement methods in public health settings; and/or the impact of these endeavors on population health. Findings must have the potential to guide future public health practice, health policy, and research. Frontiers is intended to provide quick access to actionable public health infrastructure research to improve public health practice at the state and local levels. It is of use to practitioners, policy makers and researchers.
June 10, 2015
Background: With nearly 20% of the U.S. population in rural areas, a lack of access to primary care may cause rural residents to forego recommended preventive care procedures, and suffer higher morbidity rates than their urban counterparts.
May 21, 2015
Background: Cervical cancer places a substantial economic burden on our healthcare system. The three-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series is a cost-effective intervention to prevent HPV infection and resultant cervical cancer. Despite its efficacy, completion rates are low in young women aged 18 through 26 years. 1-2-3 Pap is a video intervention tested and proven to increase HPV vaccination completion rates.
May 21, 2015
Communicable diseases still disable or kill millions worldwide despite centuries of public health progress. Twenty-first century public health services and systems researchers are testing innovative strategies to achieve goals that were once considered beyond reach.
May 21, 2015
In the United States it is currently unknown whether the influenza surveillance system is capable of producing timely and accurate data for case estimation during an outbreak of pandemic scale. This simulation provides a preliminary evaluation of the surveillance system’s ability to collect data and produce timely and accurate trends of cases confirmed with an influenza virus. For the evaluation, a computer-based simulation of the data-collection process was used, which was validated with real demographic and epidemiologic information.
April 29, 2015
The paper by Carlton and Singh in the March 2015 issue of Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research represents an effort to show that, at least indirectly, hospitals and health departments in some communities apparently are in partnership, at least in the health department’s judgment: That is, the health department listed hospitals as a partner in the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) survey of local health departments.
April 23, 2015
These editorial comments attempt to provide some contextual background to the primary focus of the study by Carlton and Erwin in the March 2015 issue of Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research, integration of health care and public health (executives). The purpose is also to provide a critical assessment of the value of evidence about strategies for integration, identified by the stakeholders in these two industries. Findings from the Carlton and Edwin study have provided important clues and have stirred the pot enough to start a much-needed dialogue.
April 3, 2015
Introduction: Whether the focus of population-health improvement efforts, the measurement of health outcomes, risk factors, and interventions to improve them are central to achieving collective impact in the population health perspective. And because of the importance of a shared measurement system, appropriate measures can help to ensure the accountability of and ultimately integrate the efforts of public health, the health care delivery sector, and other public and private entities in the community to improve population health.
April 3, 2015
Introduction: The system dynamics that are driving changes in health and health care in the United States are not well captured by standard data collection activities. We need systems of data that can inform policy and program development and reflect the increasing recognition that all aspects of people’s lives—their work, families, and communities and not just formal health and health care services—support active and healthy living.
April 3, 2015
Introduction: Through September 2014, federal investments in health information technology have been unprecedented, with more than 25 billion dollars in incentive funds distributed to eligible hospitals and providers. Over 85 percent of eligible United States hospitals and 60 percent of eligible providers have used certified electronic health record (EHR) technology and received Meaningful Use incentive funds (HITECH Act1).