Overview

Nevada is in the Western region of the United States and has a population of 3.1 million people. The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services is a superagency with a Division of Public and Behavioral Health and has a hybrid approach to public health administration with local health departments. The state is responsible for providing a handful of public health services statewide and all public health services in rural areas of the state. Three local health authorities are responsible for providing all other public health services in the urban areas of the state. Nevada envisions a better defined and more comprehensive public health system that includes rural multi-county health districts to address and ensure equitable access and delivery of services.

The Nevada team believes that we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the numerous shortcomings of our state’s public health system. Participating in 21C will allow Nevada to leverage current, short term federal resources and incorporate best practices from other states engaged in public health transformation and modernization.” John Packham, PhD, Office of Statewide Initiatives, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine]

Key Highlights

Through its commitment and investment in accreditation, Nevada plans to use accreditation as a means to achieve lasting, systemic changes; develop a culture of continuous quality improvement; and enhance performance management to better promote and protect the health of all Nevadans.

Nevada is working to expand public health capacity in rural areas of the state by offering training and support to county health officers and county boards of health and creating a multi-county rural public health district in order to enhance local decision-making and support the maximum number of services to the largest number of people.

The rural health district is developing a rural public health laboratory as part of the state’s effort to develop a statewide public health lab network in coordination with the Nevada State Public Health Lab.

The Work We’re Doing