Performance measurement in public health: conceptual and methodological issues in building the science base.

The use of scientific methods for examining performance in the field of public health has lagged behind comparable efforts in medical practice. Accomplishments in other health care settings demonstrate that performance measurement systems can, if pursued rigorously and systematically, advance scientific knowledge and enhance the production of information to support improvements in public health practice. Numerous conceptual and methodological issues need to be addressed in order to use public health performance measurement processes for scientific inquiry. Nonetheless, the reward for careful analytic work in this area will be an expanding body of evidence to inform policy and administrative decision making in public health.

Prevention and the reforming U.S. health care system: changing roles and responsibilities for public health.

This review presents historical and cost-effectiveness perspectives of prevention in health care; discusses the nature, extent, and determinants of health system change, particularly the transition to managed care with large integrated health care corporations; and identifies implications for public health agencies and opportunities for prevention within the reforming health system.

Assessing prevention effectiveness using data to drive program decisions.

The measure of the effectiveness of health promotion and disease prevention activities is the impact of prevention policies, programs, and practices on public health and clinical medicine. Assessing prevention effectiveness involves continuing quantitative analysis of health outcomes resulting from prevention practices. Additionally, assessment involves evaluation of disease- and injury-prevention activities, including their medical, legal, ethical, and economic impacts. Although assessing the effectiveness of prevention activities involves measuring efficacy, safety, and cost, the primary criterion is to improve health at a reasonable cost, not merely to contain costs. Policy makers can use the results of assessments to set priorities in public health. The authors use case studies to illustrate various approaches to evaluating prevention programs, including programs for preventing measles, breast cancer, and diabetic retinopathy. Rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of prevention activities is essential to the wide acceptance of preventive interventions and the willingness to pay for them.