Understanding the factors that impact federal rulemaking: a survey of former EPA regulators.

While federal rulemaking is an essential part of American governance, it is not well understood by researchers and advocates. We surveyed 115 former regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency to understand their views on the kinds of information they valued most and their communication preferences (June-August 2023). Respondents highly valued information about the scope of a problem (96%), legal analysis (97%), technology assessments (96%), and impacts of a proposed rule (99%).

Charting the Advocacy Landscape: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Syllabi in Public Health Graduate Education.

Context: Addressing public health challenges necessitates policy approaches, but concerns persist about public health graduates' preparedness to advocate.

Objective: This qualitative study sought to assess advocacy content and skills taught to Master of Public Health students enrolled in US accredited schools and programs of public health (SPPHs) by analyzing 98 course syllabi submitted to the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) between 2019 and 2021. Syllabi were submitted by SPPHs during their (re)accreditation process to demonstrate compliance with CEPH's advocacy competency requirement.

Multisector Health Policy Networks in 15 Large US Cities.

Context: Local health departments (LHDs) have historically not prioritized policy development, although it is one of the 3 core areas they address. One strategy that may influence policy in LHD jurisdictions is the formation of partnerships across sectors to work together on local public health policy.

Design: We used a network approach to examine LHD local health policy partnerships across 15 large cities from the Big Cities Health Coalition.

Bearing Fruit: The Fight For The FDA's Food Safety Reforms.

A food safety advocate recounts one long road to the passage of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011.

The Relationship of Policymaking and Networking Characteristics among Leaders of Large Urban Health Departments.

Background: The relationship between policy networks and policy development among local health departments (LHDs) is a growing area of interest to public health practitioners and researchers alike. In this study, we examine policy activity and ties between public health leadership across large urban health departments.

Methods: This study uses data from a national profile of local health departments as well as responses from a survey sent to three staff members (local health official, chief of policy, chief science officer) in each of 16 urban health departments in the United States.

Perceived impacts of health care reform on large urban health departments.

Context: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is changing the landscape of health systems across the United States, as well as the functioning of governmental public health departments. As a result, local health departments are reevaluating their roles, objectives, and the services they provide.

Objective: We gathered perspectives on the current and future impact of the ACA on governmental public health departments from leaders of local health departments in the Big Cities Health Coalition, which represents some of the largest local health departments in the country.

The future of urban health: needs, barriers, opportunities, and policy advancement at large urban health departments.

Context: More than 2800 local health departments (LHDs) provide public health services to more than 300 million individuals in the United States. This study focuses on departments serving the most populous districts in the nation, including the members of the Big Cities Health Coalition (BCHC) in 2013.

Objective: To systematically gather leadership perspectives on the most pressing issues facing large, urban health departments.

What gets measured gets done: an assessment of local data uses and needs in large urban health departments.

Context: The epidemiologic shift in the leading causes of mortality from infectious disease to chronic disease has created significant challenges for public health surveillance at the local level.

Objective: We describe how the largest US city health departments identify and use data to inform their work and we identify the data and information that local public health leaders have specified as being necessary to help better address specific problems in their communities.

Design: We used a mixed-methods design that included key informant interviews, as well as a smaller embedded survey to quantify organizational characteristics related to data capacity.

Organizational characteristics of large urban health departments.

Approximately 150 million Americans lived in large metropolitan jurisdictions in 2013. About 1 in 7 Americans is served by a member of the Big Cities Health Coalition (BCHC), a group of 20 of the largest local health departments (LHDs) in the United States. In this brief, we describe the organizational characteristics of the country's largest health departments, including those that form the BCHC, and quantify the differences and variation among them.

Practice-based teaching for health policy action and advocacy.

The Institute of Medicine has issued numerous reports calling for the public health workforce to be adept in policy-making, communication, science translation, and other advocacy skills. Public health competencies include advocacy capabilities, but few public health graduate institutions provide systematic training for translating public health science into policy action. Specialized health-advocacy training is needed to provide future leaders with policy-making knowledge and skills in generating public support, policy-maker communications, and policy campaign operations that could lead to improvements in the outcomes of public health initiatives.

Leveraging the nation's anti-bioterrorism investments: foundation efforts to ensure a revitalized public health system.

The emerging potential threats of bioterrorism combined with critical existing epidemics facing the United States call for immediate and urgent attention to the U.S. public health system.