Service and Resource Sharing
Service and resource sharing is a valuable strategy to increase local health department capacity and improve service delivery of necessary services, as determined by state statute and/or Foundational Public Health Services. The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) defines service and resource sharing among health departments as, “when insights, expertise, techniques, and tools are shared across organizational boundaries.”
What does service and resource sharing look like in Wisconsin?
The Division of Public Health (DPH), Office of Policy and Practice Alignment (OPPA) led a service and resource sharing environmental scan among local health departments in Wisconsin and other states. The environmental scan purpose was to investigate the current strategies to form and maintain coalitions, consortiums, and other resource-sharing partnerships.
Information for this scan was collected through a series of document reviews, existing data searches (including web searches), and nine key-informant interviews around current strategies to form and maintain coalitions, consortiums, and other shared partnerships. OPPA staff reviewed and framed this information around PHAB’s Foundational Public Health Areas and Capabilities.
In Wisconsin and across the nation, shared service partnerships vary in their degree of complexity. These partnerships can also vary in type of collaboration, including but not limited to, shared services between local health departments, locals and non-profits, and locals and state agencies. Some simply share information and data; others share resources, staff, or equipment; and a few local health departments fully merge. Service and resource sharing looks different from one local health department to the next; there is not a one-size-fits-all approach.
Limitations of the environmental scan
This scan was not intended to be inclusive of every resource-sharing strategy, in general or in Wisconsin. Rather, it was meant to highlight some key examples that identify successful strategies and provide recommendations for public health system transformation. This report also excludes examples from Tribal health departments.