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Assessment, planning, and reporting
Assessment and planning
Annual reporting
Key resources
The Local Public Health Act of 2003 established a five-year cycle (which began again in 2010) for developing and reporting local priorities and essential local activities. A very limited amount of detail is included in this chapter, as both processes may evolve in the future. For assistance with both of these processes, please contact your public health system consultant.
Assessment and planning
The LPH assessment and planning process was revised at the end of the 2005-2009 reporting cycle, to reflect changes recommended by local public health officials and by an ad hoc group of the State Community Health Services Advisory Committee (SCHSAC). These changes were made to increase the process' clarity and utility, ensure adequate technical assistance is available, and to align reporting standards with national public health accreditation standards.
The LPH assessment and planning cycle aims to help local health departments assess and prioritize the health needs of their communities, assess and prioritize their own internal capacity to meet those health needs, and develop action plans to meet those needs.
This process is one component of a larger local public health quality improvement process. Other components of the larger improvement process include LPH Act annual reporting (below) and the accountability review process.
LPH Act annual reporting
Minnesota's local public health Local Public Health Act annual reporting is a web-based information system that collects and reports on the activities, funding, staffing and performance of Minnesota's local public health departments. LPH Act annual reporting aims to describe key aspects of Minnesota's public health system, provide consistent and accurate information that can be used to improve delivery of public health, and provide accountability and meet the reporting requirements of the Local Public Health Act.