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Budget Amendment - Public Health Department
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INFORMATION CONTACT:
Traci Colley, Human Services Agency, Public Health, Director, 704-296-4801
ACTION REQUESTED:
1) Recognize, receive, and appropriate a total of $100,957 in additional state funding from the North Carolina Division of Public Health for the provision of maternal health services (AA 101), public health infrastructure support (AA 117), and services provided through the Food, Lodging, and Institutions Program of Environmental Health (AA 874), and 2) approve Budget Amendment 20.
PRIOR BOARD ACTIONS:
None.
BACKGROUND:
AA 101: The Maternal Health Program is administered in the Division of Public Health (DPH), within the Women, Infant and Community Wellness Section (WICWS), Maternal Health Branch. The primary mission of the Maternal Health Program is to ensure that all individuals who are pregnant and low-income have access to early and continuous prenatal and postpartum care. Every local health department, including districts, is eligible to receive funding for maternal health services in their community. The provision of high quality, risk appropriate perinatal care is a means of reducing maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.
Agreement Addendum #101 assures that local health departments provide access to early and continuous prenatal and postpartum care for individuals who are pregnant and low-income in North Carolina (NC). Prenatal care services include screenings, counseling, and referrals for psychosocial and nutrition problems; behavioral health intervention; and Care Management for High-Risk Pregnancies (CMHRP). In addition, local health departments will work to enhance public education and community awareness regarding risk prevention and reduction strategies.
AA 117: Public health departments need to continue their response work, apply lessons learned, and prepare for future public health emergencies. The pandemic accentuated long-standing weaknesses and created new challenges to the public health infrastructure. This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding, awarded to the North Carolina Division of Public Health for a five-year period ending October 31, 2027, recognizes a history of underinvestment in the public health system and the foundational services it provides.
The Foundational Public Health Services (FPHS) framework was developed in 2013 to define a minimum package of core public health services areas that no public health jurisdiction can be without. The FPHS framework outlines the unique responsibilities of governmental public health and the vital role of governmental public health in a thriving community. These foundational service areas are core functions of local health departments and include 1) preventing the spread of communicable disease, 2) ensuring food, air, and water quality are safe, 3) supporting maternal and child health, 4) improving access and linkages to clinical care services, and 5) preventing chronic disease and injury. In addition to these foundational services, public health departments provide local protections and services unique to their community’s needs.
Foundational Capabilities are the cross-cutting skills, knowledge, and practice needed in order to support and provide core public health services, functions, programs, and activities which are key to ensuring opportunities for health, promoting wellbeing and achieving health outcomes across community. The Foundational Capabilities include: 1) Assessment & Surveillance, 2) Community Partnership Development, 3) Equity, 4) Organizational Competencies, 5) Policy Development & Support, 6) Accountability & Performance Management, 7) Emergency Preparedness & Response, and 8) Communications.
AA 874: To fund a portion of local expenditures created by state-mandated Food, Lodging, and Institution (Food and Lodging) sanitation programs and activities, the legislature established a State Inspections, Statistics, and Fees Program within the Environmental Health Section. This program centralizes public health data; invoices regulated facilities and distributes the funds in accordance with G.S. 130A-248(d). The receipts collected are redistributed to local environmental health programs in the form of aid to counties. II. III. The Agreement Addendum allows for the Local Health Department’s environmental health program to implement state-mandated sanitation regulations. The funds from this Agreement Addendum are to be used to support local Food and Lodging programs and activities. The disbursement and fund purpose are described under “Regulation of food and lodging establishments” in North Carolina General Statute 130A-248(d) and under “Disbursements of Funds” in North Carolina Administrative Code 15A NCAC 18A .2901.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The County will receive a total of $100,957 in additional funding in FY26 from the North Carolina Division of Public Health for the provision of maternal health services ($9,731), to support public health infrastructure ($75,091) and for services provided through the Food, Lodging and Institutions Program of Environmental Health ($16,135). No County match is required.