Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 6, September 18, 2024
Public health is responsible for safeguarding the community's
health. This goal is pursued through three core functions: assessment, policy
development and assurance.
(1)
Assessment: Regularly and systematically collect, assemble, analyze, and make
available information on the health of the community, including statistics on
health status, community health needs, personal health services, and
epidemiologic and other studies of health problems. A local board of health may
perform the following essential public health services:
a. Monitor health status to identify
community health problems;
b.
Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community;
and
c. Evaluate effectiveness,
accessibility, and quality of personal, population-based, and environmental
health services.
(2)
Policy development: Exercise responsibility to serve the public interest in the
development of comprehensive public health policies. This core function can be
accomplished by promoting use of a scientific knowledge base in decision making
about public health and by taking the lead in public health policy development.
a. A local board of health may perform the
following essential public health services:
(1) Develop policies and plans that support
individual and community health efforts; and
(2) Research new insights and innovative
solutions to health problems and health threats.
b. A local board of health shall perform the
following essential public health services:
(1) Enforce laws and regulations that protect
public health and enforce lawful orders of the department;
(2) Make and enforce reasonable rules and
regulations not inconsistent with the law or the rules of the state board as
may be necessary for the protection and improvement of the public health;
and
(3) Employ persons as necessary
for the efficient discharge of the board's duties. Employment practices shall
meet the requirements of Iowa Code chapter 8A, subchapter IV, or any civil
service provision adopted under Iowa Code chapter 400.
(3) Assurance: Assure
constituents that services necessary to achieve agreed-upon goals are provided
either by encouraging action by other entities (private or public sector), by
requiring such action through regulation, or by providing services directly.
Each local board of health must involve key policymakers and the general public
in determining a set of high-priority personal and population-based health
services. A local board of health may perform the following essential public
health services:
a. Link people to needed
personal health services; provide such personal, population-based and
environmental health services as deemed necessary for the promotion and
protection of the health of the public; and charge reasonable fees for personal
health services;
b. Ensure the
competence of the public health, environmental health, and personal health care
workforce;
c. Inform, educate, and
empower people about health issues;
d. Mobilize community partnerships to
identify and solve health problems;
e. Issue licenses and permits and charge
reasonable fees in relation to the construction or operation of nonpublic water
supplies or private sewage disposal systems;
f. Engage in joint operations by:
(1) Contracting with colleges and
universities, the department, other public, private, and nonprofit agencies,
and individuals; or
(2) Forming a
district health department to provide personal and population-based health
services; and
g. Enforce,
by written agreement with the council of any city within its jurisdiction,
appropriate ordinances of the city relating to public
health.
