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In current methods of profile monitoring, standards of acceptability (cut-offs) are set either by consulting panels of experts, or by selecting an arbitrary point (e.g., the 75th percentile) on the profile (statistical distribution). However, experts have only vague ideas of what outcome rates ought to be, while profile statistics stem from samples for which unknown percentages of cases have received acceptable care. Poorly chosen standards could cause profile monitoring to be ineffective, inefficient, or unnecessarily disruptive. A new method proposes to set standards by using statistics for which the percentage of adequate care has been predetermined by examining the process of care. Plans to circumvent the pitfalls involved are described, as are two approaches to estimating the degree of process adequacy from routinely produced outcome rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over 80 per cent of a national sample of local health agencies in the United States, minimum program standards are specified by the state, by law, regulation, or some other policy method. The performance standards that are used are a mix of state and local standards, with one-third of the agencies reporting that the Model Standards were used in developing their own standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses what is being done to strengthen the U.S. environmental public health infrastructure and improve the practice of environmental health. The focus of the article is an overview of the 2006 U.S. National Center of Environmental Health (NCEH) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) development of the Environmental Public Health Performance Standards (EnvPHPS). The EnvPHPS is a companion to the National Public Health Performance Standards (NPHPS). Topics include how the two standards can be applied to environmental health and protection programs and examples of what they can accomplish, such as the ability to assess the capacity of a state, tribal, or local government to perform environmental health services essential to a population.

The article offers information on the joint resolution of the American Public Health Association (APHA) and other health organizations in the U.S. in support of the National Public Health Performance Standards Program. The organizations include the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the National Association of Local Boards of Health, the Public Health Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. APHA advocates the implementation, including appropriate quality management standards and performance indicators for mental health services, of the National Public Health Performance Standards Program nationwide.

The article discusses the role of the American Public Health Association (APHA) in defining and outlining the health role in housing. The association's Basic Health Principles of Housing and the Residential Environment outlines and documents the goals medical personnel seek to achieve in planning, building and managing housing and residential environment. The principles are being used as a significant guide in federal development of performance standards for housing and its environment. APHA-U.S. Public Heal Service Recommended Housing Ordinance developed the most important portions of the Basic Health Principles as legally enforceable minimum standards for all housing.