Essential Components of a Public Health Tuberculosis Prevention, Control, and Elimination Program: Recommendations of the Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis and the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association.

This report provides an introduction and reference tool for tuberculosis (TB) controllers regarding the essential components of a public health program to prevent, control, and eliminate TB. The Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis and the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association recommendations in this report update those previously published (Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis. Essential components of a tuberculosis prevention and control program.

Tuberculosis Elimination Efforts in the United States in the Era of Insurance Expansion and the Affordable Care Act.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act can enhance ongoing efforts to control tuberculosis (TB) in the United States by bringing millions of currently uninsured Americans into the health-care system. However, much of the legislative and financial framework that provides essential public health services necessary for effective TB control is outside the scope of the law. We identified three key issues that will still need to be addressed after full implementation of the Affordable Care Act: (1) essential TB-related public health functions will still be needed and will remain the responsibility of federal, state, and local health departments; (2) testing and treatment for latent TB infection (LTBI) is not covered explicitly as a recommended preventive service without cost sharing or copayment; and (3) remaining uninsured populations will disproportionately include groups at high risk for TB.