Overview

Oregon is in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and has a population of 4.25 million people. The Oregon Health Authority is Oregon’s Public Health Division and has a decentralized relationship with local health departments in the state. The Oregon Public Health Division works to protect and promote the health of all Oregonians and the communities where they live, work, play, and learn. To achieve this vision, they are engaging in several key efforts including public health modernization, public health accountability metrics, a State Health Improvement Plan, State Health Assessment and Indicators, Strategic Planning, and partnering with community-based organizations. The public health system includes federal, state, and local agencies, private organizations, and other diverse partners working together to put healthy options and health-promoting services within reach for everyone in Oregon.

Key Highlights

Oregon refers to its Foundational Public Health Services (FPHS) work as public health modernization. Oregon made considerable progress toward preparing to implement FPHS prior to the initial 21C grant, but the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) funding was critical to developing the roadmap, communication tools, and relationships with local health departments (LHDs), legislators, and key stakeholders.

The public health modernization assessment, which evaluated the degree to which the state health authority and LHDs were providing FPHS and estimated the costs of fully implementing FPHS, was mandatory for the state and LHDs. Findings were used to develop a statewide public health modernization plan.

Using the RWJF funding for 21C, the Oregon Coalition of Local Health Officials (CLHO) held ten regional meetings for public health leaders across different sectors to discuss the future of the public health system. The ten regional meetings prepared LHDs to apply for local modernization grants. As a result, local public health modernization grants reached 32 out of 34 LHDs.

In 2017, the state legislature allocated $5 million for public health modernization: $3.9 million for LHDs and $1.1 million for the state health authority.

Oregon developed an online Public Health Modernization Roadmap resource, which includes four steps, critical strategies, and associated tools to help LHDs implement FPHS.

Oregon published its baseline Public Health Accountability Metrics Report to track progress toward population health priorities in a modernized public health system, identify when goals are not being met, and identify where public health can partner with other sectors to meet goals.

Additional resources