The mission of the Ohio Public Health Institute (OPHI) is to promote and strengthen public health through a sustained collaboration of Ohio’s public health community serving as experts, advocates and leaders. Our work includes advancing public health practice and making systematic improvements in Ohio public health.
Our state public health agency, which collaborates with OPHI on all of our impact areas.
The 21st Century Learning Community (21C) is a group of states focused on intentional state-wide public health system transformation. OPHI has been a long-standing member of 21C and works to strengthen infrastructure, improve performance, and build public health trust and accountability.
OPHI provides training and technical assistance opportunities focused on peer learning and support to build and sustain the public health workforce.
The foundational public health services (FPHS) is a national framework that defines essential capabilities and programs that every governmental public health jurisdiction must provide to ensure community health and well-being. OPHI conducts this assessment annually to identify the current status of providing FPHS in Ohio, and calculate funding needed for local health departments to be able to provide the FPHS in their communities.
Ohio is in the Midwestern region of the United States and has a population of 11.7 million people. OPHI and many key stakeholders envision a transformed public health system through unique partnerships and funding streams that advance the health and wellbeing of its residents.
The FPHS capacity and cost assessments have been instrumental in a number of policy and funding situations, including during COVID response. Using the gap analysis in the costing tool, Ohio identified overall funding needs and what is needed to fill gaps within specific areas of the foundational capabilities.
The advancement of equity has been a longstanding cornerstone of state and local health assessment and improvement plans. Ohio mandates accreditation for all local health departments by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), which has always incorporated equity into its standards and measures.
Since 2013 OPHI has hosted an Accreditation Learning Community (ALC) for local health departments. The ALC features expert speakers on performance management, continuous quality improvement, “How to” of accreditation, preparing documents, site visit preparation, and staff engagement strategies. The ALCs also provide networking, sharing, training and technical assistance in a supportive environment of peers. ALC success is based on continuous feedback from participants, peer support and meaningful evaluation.
