The Public Health Foundation (PHF) and the American Public Health Association (APHA) have worked collaboratively to develop a new tool to help health departments assess and improve the performance of their policy activities. While other performance measurement and evaluation guides exist, this is the first tool to focus explicitly on performance measurement for public health policy.

 

The first section of the tool gives a brief overview of the role of health departments in public health policy, followed by an introduction to performance measurement within the context of performance management. It also includes a framework for conceptualizing the goals and activities of policy work in a health department. The second section of the tool consists of tables with examples of activities that a health department might engage in and sample measures and outcomes for these activities. The final section provides three examples of how a health department might apply performance measurement and the sample measures to assess its policy activities.

 

 

This archived webinar from the Performance Improvement Managers webinar series also provides an overview of the tool and its practical application. We encourage and welcome your suggestions for improvement and other feedback; please contact PHF's Margie Beaudry.