community health status

Objectives: The purpose of this research study was to determine whether specific local public health agency (LPHA) characteristics were associated with favorable county health status. Specifically, financial and administrative comparisons were made to determine whether variables such as budget size or number of employees, among others, were associated with community health status among the 120 counties in Kentucky. Other financial and administrative variables collected from LPHA data were also investigated in this study.

The goal of Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) is to provide an overview of key health indicators for local communities and to encourage dialogue about actions that can be taken to improve a community’s health. The CHSI report was designed not only for public health professionals but also for members of the community who are interested in the health of their community. The CHSI report contains over 200 measures for each of the 3,141 United States counties.