Projects  > Law & Public Health > State Reporting

Public health law is one of the important infrastructural components for public health practice. The laws enacted by each state provide an organizational structure for public health programs at the state and local level, define the powers and obligations of the public health authority, and assure that community and individual interests are appropriately balanced. Within this burgeoning field of research, public health law projects in recent years have evidenced a growing awareness of the importance of having adequate legislation to assess the public health needs of a given population and to provide the authority for disease prevention and health promotion efforts.

Public Health Law and State Reporting of Healthcare-Associated Infections

The data collected for each state reporting process have been categorized on the basis of (1) general or specific legislative authority, (2) organisms included (i.e., case/intervention definition), (3) required hospital reporter, (4) detail in the report (aggregate for hospital vs. individual case report), and (5) extent to which reports are released to the public. The research team is exploring, through analysis of the collected information, the degree to which states that have modernized their respective public health laws to approach mandatory reporting by way of general legislation regarding “matters of public health importance” and subsequent detailed administrative regulation to specify thosematters. This project is creating a web-based system amenable to regular updating as regulations are promulgated, communicating its results and analysis to CIRAR staff and the public health community through publications and project reports.

Kristine Gebbie & Benjamin Mason Meier, Public Health Law and StateReporting of Healthcare Associated Infections, CIRAR, October 4, 2007