"Moving from Intersection to Integration: Public Health Law Research and Public Health Systems and Services Research" was published this week in The Milbank Quarterly.
The article is a collaboration between leaders of the Public Health Law Research (PHLR) National Program Office and the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Systems and Services Research at the University of Kentucky, and it establishes a unified framework for the two fields and a shared research agenda built around three broad inquiries. The article was written by Scott Burris, PHLR Director; Jennifer K. Ibrahim, PHLR Associate Director; F. Douglas Scutchfield, Director of the National Coordinating Center for PHSSR at the University of Kentucky; and Glen P. Mays, co-PI of the RWJF-funded National Coordinating Center for PHSSR at the University of Kentucky.
For three decades, experts have been stressing the importance of law to the effective operation of public health systems. In a 2011 report, the Institute of Medicine recommended a review of state and local public health laws to ensure appropriate authority for public health agencies; adequate access to legal counsel for public health agencies; evaluations of the health effects and costs associated with legislation, regulations, and policies; and enhancement of research methods to assess the strength of evidence regarding the health effects of public policies. These recommendations, and the continued interest in law as a determinant of health system performance, speak to the need for integrating the emerging fields of PHLR and PHSSR.
The article is available for free in full from Wiley Online Library.
Citation: Burris, S., Mays G.P., Scutchfield, F.D., Ibrahim, J.K. (2012). Moving from Intersection to Integration: Public Health Law Research and Public Health Systems and Services Research. The Milbank Quarterly, 90(2), 375-408.