title: Improvement strategy for local health departments.
abstract: Local public health departments face unprecedented challenges in today's changing health care market: movement toward Medicaid managed care, privatization of public health services, and resource shortages. Internal weaknesses include divergence from the core public health mission, an unfavorable public image, inefficiency in work processes, and inadequate data management. Quality management offers health departments a strategy for addressing these challenges through heightened service effectiveness and improved resource utilization.
authors.affiliation: Center for Public Health Practice, University of North Carolina, School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Hatzell
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Halverson
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Kaluzny
mesh_terms: D004465:Economic Competition; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D007256:Information Systems; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D011635:Public Health Administration / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States