What are examples of innovations you’ve heard about from health departments?
Dr. Monroe: One of the things I’m always inspired by is the innovation and resourcefulness of folks in public health. In New Orleans, under the new leadership of Karen DeSalvo, the health department is aligning resources from federal and city sources. And some of the transformation there is moving away from clinical care, and focusing on core public health. And the budget cuts have given us the opportunity to do that, which we should be doing even if the economy were doing fine. And technology is being used as an innovation tool in many departments. In Multnomah County, Ore., the president of NACCHO, Lillian Shirley has replaced some home visits with videoconferencing. Cross cutting work among agencies is also key. CDC has implemented a grant focusing on performance improvement and quality improvement, with an eye on public health accreditation, which gives departments resources to do cross cutting work. And this is the first such grant. It gives the performance improvement manager a s
