This study finds that children in counties with unified family courts experienced shorter foster care spells and higher rates of reunification with parents or primary caregivers. Shorter foster care spells translated into improved school performance measured by end-of-grade reading and math test scores. Adult drug treatment courts were associated with lower probability of reunification with parents/primary caregivers.
Similar to the triaging of patients by health care workers, legal and public health professionals must prioritize and respond to issues of law and ethics in declared public health emergencies. As revealed by the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza outbreak and other events, there are considerable inconsistencies among professionals regarding how to best approach these issues during a public health emergency.
This article serves as a call to action to achieve universal health agency accreditation within this decade. The authors identify the challenge, and offer strategies and opportunities for implementation.
The accreditation of public health departments is expected to play a significant role in strengthening the performance, effectiveness, and accountability of the nation’s public health system. After extensive study, a national voluntary accreditation program has been endorsed by leading public health organizations, including the American Public Health Association (APHA), Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), and the National Association of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH).
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Center for Public Health Practice
Richard Zimmerman, MD, MPH, MA •
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Center for Public Health Practice
This study evaluated whether vaccination mandates, either by hospital policy or state law, may increase flu vaccine coverage for healthcare workers. The study finds that vaccination rates were significantly related to mandated vaccination with termination for noncompliance and declination or noncompliance that results in consequences other than termination.
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Center for Public Health Practice
Overall annual influenza vaccination rate has slowly increased among health care workers but still remains below the national goal of 90 percent. One hundred fifty hospitals required influenza vaccination, 84 with consequences (wear a mask, termination, education, restriction from patient care duties, unpaid leave) and 66 without consequences for noncompliance. Hospitals whose mandates have consequences for noncompliance included a broader range of personnel, were less likely to allow personal belief exemptions, or to require formal declination.
The existence of different types of accreditation legal frameworks, embedded in complex and varying state legal infrastructures and political environments, raises important legal implications for the national voluntary accreditation program. The findings from the mapping study delineate the accreditation, certification/assessment, performance management, or quality improvement program currently in place and the type of legal framework supporting it.
This study explored the association between the legal infrastructure of local public health, as expressed in the exercise of local fiscal and legislative authority, and local population health outcomes.
The Philadelphia Lead Court (PLC) was created as an innovative law enforcement strategy to compel property owners to comply with city health codes to remediate their properties of lead hazards, which had led to elevated blood lead levels and lead poisoning in resident children. This study presents a detailed account of and analyzes the opinions of fifteen key informants drawn from the Philadelphia health and law departments and judicial system that staff and run the PLC in response to a fifteen-question structured survey.
This study determined whether Philadelphia Lead Court is effective in enforcing lead hazard remediation in the homes of children with elevated blood lead levels.
