PHLP Survey - word

Attachment A – Instrument: Word Version

Form Approved

OMB No. 0920-0879

Expiration Date 03/31/2018

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Public Health Law Program (PHLP) works to improve the health of the public by developing law-related tools and providing legal technical assistance to public health practitioners and policy makers in state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) jurisdictions.

The purpose of this assessment is to gather information from senior health officials and public health department attorneys about their respective agency’s current public health law research, technical assistance and workforce development training needs. Findings will be used by PHLP to develop tools, training, and technical assistance reflective of those needs. Information gathered will also support the development of PHLP’s 5-year strategic plan.

PHLP is seeking the opinions of senior health officials, deputy health officials, and attorneys within state and local health departments. (Health officials and attorneys on PHLP’s contact list will receive individual invitations to complete this needs assessment). Even if you have had little or no contact with PHLP, please be assured your responses will still provide valuable information for this needs assessment, regardless of your familiarity or contact with PHLP.

If you are a health officer receiving this assessment, you may designate one individual to complete the survey on your behalf. Please do not forward your email unless you are delegating another to respond on your behalf. Attorneys receiving this assessment because of their affiliation with the PHLP State or Local Public Health Counsel Listservs, should take the survey themselves.

The survey will take approximately 8 minutes to complete. Your participation in this assessment is voluntary, however in order to obtain as robust and representative distribution as possible, your participation is highly encouraged. Your responses will be kept secure and results will be reported only in aggregate form. No personally identifiable information will be collected. Findings will be shared with various stakeholders and might be included in articles and reports that will be made available publicly via PHLP’s website.

If you have any questions or concerns about the survey, feel free to contact Dr. Laura Colman at [email protected]. If you would like to submit a request for training or technical assistance, you may find additional information about how to contact PHLP at the end of the survey.

CDC estimates the average public reporting burden for this collection of information as 8 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data/information sources, gathering and maintaining the data/information needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing burden to CDC/ATSDR Information Collection Review Office, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS D-74, Atlanta, Georgia 30333; ATTN: PRA (0920-0879).

AWARENESS & USE OF CDC PHLP RESOURCES

CDC’s Public Health Law Program (PHLP) offers a variety of public health law products and services.

1. Rate your level of awareness and use of the following products and services.

**(LOGIC) If the participant selects either “Aware and use occasionally” or “Aware and use frequently” for this question, he or she will be taken to question 2. If the participant selects 0-2, he or she will be sent to question 3.

	Unaware	Aware, but have not used	Aware, but use rarely	Aware and use occasionally	Aware and use frequently
Legal Training Opportunities Webinars, in-person workshops, attorney training, and internships and externships.	0	1	2	3	4
Technical Assistance / Legal Research Support Information about public health laws and legal research support.	0	1	2	3	4
PHLP Public Email Inbox A public email address, [email protected], so practitioners, organizations, and governments can email PHLP to ask questions or seek support.	0	1	2	3	4
Resources Posted on the PHLP Website Documents, presentations, and other resources on the PHLP website that explain public health laws on various topics.	0	1	2	3	4

2. Public Health Law News is monthly newsletter offered by the CDC PHLP that reports about developing and important issues in public health law. Please rate your level of awareness and use of Public Health Law News.

• Unaware

• Aware, but have not used

• Aware, but use rarely

• Aware and use occasionally**

• Aware and use frequently**

3. Rate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statement:

The Public Health Law News is useful to my work and the work of my health department.

• Strongly disagree

• Disagree

• Neither agree nor disagree

• Agree

• Strongly agree

NEED FOR CDC-PROVIDED TRAINING & TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

PHLP develops and delivers legal trainings and provides technical assistance to health departments across the country.

For the purposes of this survey, consider the following definitions:

• TRAINING: An organized learning activity aimed at imparting information to improve the recipient’s competency level or performance in a particular area.

• TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: A collaborative working relationship in which an expert with specific content, legal, or other technical knowledge provides consultancy, research, or other related services to address an identified need.

Please note: This list is not inclusive of every legal public health topic.

4. From the list of Acute Health Concerns below, in which area(s) does your health department need training and/or technical assistance from CDC?

	CDC Provided Training	CDC Provided Technical Assistance
Food safety laws		
Waterborne disease laws		
Vector-borne or other zoonotic disease laws		
Healthcare quality-related laws and policies, e.g. antimicrobial resistance in healthcare settings		
HIV/AIDS, STD, TB, or viral hepatitis laws		
Emergency preparedness, management, or response laws		
Vaccine-preventable disease laws		
Other (please identify)

5. From the list of Ongoing or Widespread Health Concerns below, what are the area(s) in which your health department needs CDC-provided training and technical assistance?

	CDC Provided Training	CDC Provided Technical Assistance
Nutrition, physical activity, or obesity laws		
Tobacco control laws		
Heart disease and prevention laws		
Teen pregnancy prevention laws		
Environmental health laws (environmental health and select agents and toxins)		
Violence prevention laws		
Traumatic brain injury laws		
Drug overdose or opioid use laws		
Birth defects or developmental disabilities laws		
Occupational safety and health laws		
Other (please identify)

6 From the list of Foundational Public Health Law Functions below, what are the area(s) in which your health department needs CDC-provided training and technical assistance?

	CDC Provided Training	CDC Provided Technical Assistance
Federal Indian Law or tribal public health law		
Laws related to access to care and scope of practice, including rural health initiatives		
Health equity and vulnerable populations (LGBT, justice-involved, immigrants) law		
Laws related to reporting of data to public health authorities (disease reporting registries, etc.)		
Laws related to collection, use, maintenance, disclosure, and re-disclosure of public health data		
Health information exchange laws		
Other (please identify)

7. From the list of Administrative Authorities and Functions below, what are the area(s) in which your health department needs CDC-provided training and technical assistance?

	CDC Provided Training	CDC Provided Technical Assistance
Laws related to regulatory compliance for healthcare or other service-related entities		
Enforcement of public health laws		
Liability or immunity laws		
Mutual aid across jurisdictions, MOUs, etc.		
Administrative procedures acts		
Updating public health law and regulations		
Other (please identify)

8. Identify any additional public health law topic areas in which your health department needs training from CDC. ______________________________________

9. From the list below, select the staff in your health department that would most benefit from participating in CDC-provided public health law training. (Select all that apply)

• Senior health officials/deputy health officials

• Public health attorneys

• Epidemiologists

• Communication specialists

• Public health emergency preparedness and response practitioners

• No one within the health department would benefit

• Other (please identify)

10. Does your health department offer its attorneys public health law training (excluding health-related continuing legal education or training provided during your health department’s orientation)?

• No

• Yes

• No attorneys are employed within health department

• Do not know

11. From the list below, what instructional format does your health department prefer for legal training from CDC? (Select all that apply)

• In-person training within your jurisdiction

• In-person training at CDC in Atlanta, Georgia

• Interactive self-paced electronic lessons or modules that are not delivered by a live instructor

• Webinar (presented live, often with archived recordings available afterwards, and may offer a question and answer session)

• Other (please identify)

12. Identify any additional public health law topic areas in which your health department needs CDC-provided technical assistance. ___________________________

ACCESS TO LAWS

13. How do your health department staff access your jurisdiction’s laws, excluding judicial opinions? (Select all that apply.)

• Subscription database (e.g., Westlaw, Municode, CQ State Track)

• Government legal database (e.g., government website)

• Physical copies at law libraries or from my organization

• Health department does not have access to the laws

• I do not know

• Other (please specify)

LEGAL RESEARCH

We are interested in learning how your health department is using legal research, if at all.

14. Rate the extent to which your health department conducts the following types of legal research activities.

	Never	Rarely	Occasionally	Frequently	Very Frequently
Ad hoc research to respond to an emerging public health law issue or problem	0	1	2	3	4
Legal research to study the impact of law on public health outcomes	0	1	2	3	4
Legal research to support the creation of regulation in your community	0	1	2	3	4

DEMOGRAPHICS

15. What is your role in your health department?

• Health official, health director, or administrator

• Attorney representing a state or local public health department

• Other (please identify) _______________________________

16. What is the average employment tenure of attorneys who work for or have worked for your health department?

• Less than 2 years

• 2 – less than 5 years

• 5 years – less than 10 years

• 10 years – less than 15 years

• 15 years – less than 20 years

• 20 years – 25 years

• More than 25 years

• Do not know because attorney(s) are shared among departments

• Do not know because private outside counsel is hired as needed

• Do not know because do not work with health department attorneys

• Health department does not have legal counsel

• Other (please identify)

17. Which of the following best describes your type of health department?

• City or county health department

• State health department

• Other (please identify)

18. What is the size of the population served by your health department?

• Less than 2,4999

• 2,500–24,999

• 25,000–49,999

• 50,000–99,999

• 100,000–249,999

• 250,000–499,999

• 500,000–999,999

• More than 1,000,000

19. What is the zip code of the health department where you work? ___________________________

THANK YOU

Thank you for participating in this needs assessment. Your input is valued. Please note that PHLP will not be able to respond to individual requests for training or technical assistance identified through this survey because no identifying information is being collected.

After you click “submit” below, you will be directed to the PHLP website. If you would like to submit requests for technical assistance or training, please click the “technical assistance” button. You can also subscribe to Public Health Law News by clicking on the sign-up badge on the left side of the page.