Health departmentsʹ implementation of public healthʹs core functions: an assessment of health impacts

Objectives. The purpose of this article was to investigate the relationship between state health agenciesʹ adherence to the recommendations of the United Stateʹs Institute of Medicineʹs (IOM) report, ‘The Future of Public Health’, and changes in their populationsʹ health. design. Data were abstracted from agenciesʹ plans, budgets, annual reports, etc. spanning a 5-year period. A comprehensive change in population health measure over the same period was drawn from the UnitedHealth Groupʹs annual survey. s. Configurations, based on public health core functions, were established using linear regression and qualitative comparative analysis. The dependent variable was a holistic measure of change in a state populationʹs health status. s. State agencies that most completely adopted a public health model emphasizing assessment, assurance and policy development also experienced significant improvements in their population health measures. sions. State agencies that more completely adopted the IOMʹs public health core functions had a concomitant improvement in their populationsʹ health statuses. Further research to explore if there is a causal link between adoption of the core functions and positive health impacts is warranted.