Assessing the Impact of Federal and State Law on Public Health Preparedness

描述（由申请人提供）： 该项目的目的是评估和评价法律如何塑造公共卫生系统的准备活动及其对公共卫生威胁的反应，如传染病爆发，大流行性流感和所有危害（包括生物恐怖主义准备）。 具体目标是审查：1）法律和公共卫生准备活动之间的联系; 2）州和地方公共卫生系统的法律的授权的程度和范围，以及这些授权是促进还是阻碍公共卫生准备工作; 3）州法律的变化如何影响联邦和州资金流的使用，以满足公共卫生准备目标; 4）公共卫生从业人员如何解释和应对影响公共卫生准备的联邦和州法律; 5）将研究结果转化为公共卫生官员和立法者实施的具体政策建议。 为了实现这些目标，研究人员将首先审查有关公共卫生准备的联邦法律，如生物恐怖主义和传染病威胁（包括审查资金流和绩效指标）。然后，我们将进行州和地方公共卫生系统的一系列案例研究，以确定州和联邦法律如何影响公共卫生系统的能力，更有效地应对公共卫生威胁和其他公共卫生准备的需要。 该项目的主要贡献将是为决策者提供第一个系统的经验信息，以了解法律如何影响公共卫生系统的疾病防备活动，以及公共卫生官员如何适应不断变化的法律的环境。另一个项目目标是弥合学术研究与公共卫生从业人员面临的问题之间的差距。将研究结果转化为实践者社区是我们整体战略的一个重要组成部分，我们认为这是研究的一个方面，对项目的成功至关重要，也是这项工作的重要贡献。因此，我们计划建议各州和地方卫生部门可以使用的具体战略，以解决联邦和州法律和资金对其公共卫生准备活动的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this project is to assess and evaluate how the law shapes the public health system's preparedness activities and its response to public health threats, such as infectious disease outbreaks, pandemic flu, and all hazards (including bioterrorism preparedness). The specific objectives are to examine: 1) the link between law and public health preparedness activities; 2) the extent and scope of legal mandates on state and local public health systems and whether those mandates facilitate or impede public health preparedness efforts; 3) how variations in state laws affect the use of federal and state funding streams to meet public health preparedness objectives; 4) how public health practitioners interpret and respond to federal and state laws affecting public health preparedness; and 5) to translate the findings into concrete policy recommendations for public health officials and legislators to implement. To meet these objectives, the investigators will first examine federal laws regarding public health preparedness, such as bioterrorism and infectious disease threats (including an examination of funding streams and performance measures). Then we will conduct a series of case studies of state and local public health systems to determine how state and federal law affects the public health system's ability to respond more effectively to public health threats and other public health preparedness needs. The project's primary contribution will be to provide policymakers with the first systematic empirical information to understand how law shapes the public health system's disease preparedness activities, and how public health officials are adjusting to the changing legal environment. Another project goal is to bridge the gap between academic research and the issues public health practitioners face. Translating the research findings to the practitioner community is an important element of our overall strategy, an aspect of the research that we view as both crucial to the project's success and an important contribution of this effort. Thus, we plan to recommend concrete strategies states and local health departments can use to address the implications of federal and state law and funding on their public health preparedness activities.