Group: Health & Human Services - Department of Health

Agency: Health

Line Item: Executive Director's Operations

Function

The Executive Director's Operations include those functions of the Department of Health that provide overall direction of policy, management, and administrative support to the divisions, offices, and programs of the Department. This organizational line item also includes Preparedness Grants, the Center for Health Data, and the Office of the Medical Examiner.

Statutory Authority

The Utah Department of Health is governed by the Utah Health Code in Title 26 of the Utah Code.

• UCA 26-1-8 through 26-1-17 details the qualifications and powers of the executive director of the Department.
• UCA 26-2 creates the Vital Statistics Act which is the State's repository of birth and death certificates.
• UCA 26-3 empowers the Department to collect and maintain health data and utilize that data for analytical purposes.
• UCA 26-33a is the Utah Health Data Authority Act and also creates the Health Data Committee which uses the data collected through UCA 26-3.
• UCA 26-4 establishes the Medical Examiner Act, which outlines procedures taken when dealing with various deaths in the State and which deaths are to be examined by the Medical Examiner.
• UCA 26-18a creates the Kurt Oscarson Children's Organ Transplant Coordinating Committee with the purpose of providing financial assistance to children facing organ transplants.
• UCA 26-18b creates the Organ Donation Contribution Fund which promotes and supports organ donations through a statewide registry and donor awareness education.
• UCA 26-28 establishes criteria for organ donations and how those affect the Medical Examiner.
• UCA 26-48 creates the Cat and Dog Community Spay and Neuter Program Restricted Account to spay and neuter dogs and cats owned by people with low incomes.

Intent Language

The Legislature intends that $2 million appropriated by this item from Federal Funds - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 shall come from the General State Fiscal Stabilization Program.

All General Funds appropriated to the Department of Health - Executive Director's Operations line item are contingent upon expenditures from Federal Funds - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1, 111th United States Congress) not exceeding amounts appropriated from Federal Funds - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in all appropriations bills passed for FY 2010. If expenditures in this line item from Federal Funds - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act exceed amounts appropriated to this line item from Federal Funds - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in FY 2010, the Division of Finance shall reduce the General Fund allocations to this line item by one dollar for every one dollar in Federal Funds - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act expenditures that exceed Federal Funds - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act appropriations.

Funding Detail

For analysis of current budget requests and discussion of issues related to this budget click here.

Program: Executive Director

Function

The Office of the Executive Director is responsible for the overall direction of policy and management of the Utah Department of Health. The following administrative support functions also report to this office:

• Legal Counsel - Provides legal counsel and support, drafts administrative rules, conducts administrative hearings, and coordinates the Department's legislative affairs.
• Employee Development - Is responsible for providing personnel support services throughout the Department.
• Policy Support - Facilitates public health strategic and operational planning and coordinates issues and programs of local health departments with the Department of Health.
• Public Information - Directs the release of public health information to the media.

Kurt Oscarson Children's Organ Transplant Trust Account

The Kurt Oscarson Children's Organ Transplant Trust Account was established in 1992 to assist families with some of the ancillary expenses involved with an organ transplant. The account does not pay for transplants. The account is funded through a check off on the Utah State Income Tax Form.

The five-member coordinating committee, established in UCA 26-18a, may award financial assistance to eligible families. The committee establishes terms of repayment, which may include a waiver of repayment. In addition to the financial assistance, the committee has approved expenditures for marketing and public awareness campaigns, and for membership dues to Intermountain Organ Recovery. The code requires the committee to make an annual report to the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee.

Cat and Dog Community Spay and Neuter Program Restricted Account

The 2006 Legislature established the Cat and Dog Community Spay and Neuter Program Restricted Account. The purpose of the fund is to assist a low-income person to have their cats and/or dogs spayed or neutered. Pet population control measures are taken to reduce the number of cats and dogs taken in by shelters and reduce the threat of diseases borne by these stray animals. Funding is offered to qualified organizations in the form of a grant to distribute through a voucher system. Revenue is provided by a voluntary donation on the Utah State Income Tax Form.

Organ Donation Contribution Fund

The 2002 Legislature approved the Organ Donation Contribution Fund in an effort to promote and support organ donation, assist in maintaining an organ donation registry, and provide donor awareness education. The fund receives revenue from voluntary donations collected with motor vehicle registrations and driver licenses.

Funding Detail

Program: Preparedness Grants

Function

After September 11, 2001 and the ensuing anthrax scare, the federal government began funding a nationwide grant program for bioterrorism preparedness through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The grant is broken down into six categories under nine preparedness goals. They are:

Prevent:

1. Increase the use and development of interventions known to prevent human illness from chemical, biological, radiological agents, and naturally occurring health threats.

2. Decrease the time needed to classify health events as terrorism or naturally occurring in partnership with other agencies.
3. Decrease the time needed to detect and report chemical, biological, radiological agents in tissue, food or environmental samples that cause threats to the public's health.
4. Improve the timeliness and accuracy of communications regarding threats to the public's health.

5. Decrease the time to identify causes, risk factors, and appropriate interventions.

6. Decrease the time needed to provide countermeasures and health guidance to those affected by threats to the public's health.

7. Decrease the time needed to restore health services and environmental safety to pre-event levels.
8. Improve the long-term follow-up provided to those affected by threats to the public's health.

9. Decrease the time needed to implement recommendations from after-action reports following threats to the public's health.

In addition to the CDC Bioterrorism grant, the Health Resources and Services Administration Hospital Preparedness Bioterrorism Grant provides monies to Utah. This grant is designated for hospitals to increase training, education, and supplies. The grant is broken into the following priority areas:

• Administration
• Surge Capacity
• Communications and Information Technology
• Links to Public Health Departments
• Education and Preparedness Training
• Terrorism Preparedness Exercises

Funding Detail

Program: Center for Health Data

Function

The Center for Health Data manages, analyzes, and provides appropriate access to strategic information resources that support Utah's public health. The operating units of the Center are the Offices of Health Care Statistics, Public Health Assessment, Vital Records and Statistics, and Public Health Informatics. The mission of the Center is to:

1. Provide accurate, timely health information to monitor health status
2. Assess the performance of the health care system
3. Identify health threats
4. Document health events
5. Guide policy decisions
6. Coordinate interoperability of public health informatics

This mission is accomplished through the following functions:

• Registration, preservation, and certification of the public's vital records
• Collection, tabulation, analysis, and publication of vital statistics and other health status and health system statistical reports
• Providing health indicators to businesses and the public over the internet as an e-government service
• Coordinating e-health or informatics innovations among public health programs and between the public and private sector
• Providing training and consultation on the intelligent use of data for planning and carrying out public health measures
• Promoting patient safety initiatives in concert with Utah hospitals
• Reporting managed care performance measures and enrollee satisfaction
• Collecting and reporting of statewide hospitalization, surgery, and emergency department encounter data
• Collecting and reporting of managed care organizations' performance measures and health maintenance organization enrollee satisfaction

Records of vital events preserved in the Office of Vital Records and Statistics are used for legal purposes, such as documentation of citizenship, age, and family relationships. The data derived from health records are for monitoring the health of the Utah population. The Department of Health routinely calculates and web-publishes health indicators through the Indicator Based Information System for Public Health (IBIS-PH). Key health indicators are leading causes of death, prevalence of chronic diseases (such as diabetes, cancer, asthma, and arthritis), and the incidence of serious injuries like poisonings and motor vehicle crash injuries.

Health system data collected under the Health Data Authority Act in UCA 26-33a permit similar monitoring of the functioning of the health care delivery system. Key indicators in this area include costs for hospitalization and medical care, access to and utilization of various health services, and comparative measures of the quality of health services provided throughout Utah. Results of assessments of the health system in Utah are disseminated to the public through MyHealthCare website.

Center for Health Data surveys result in a number of reports, among them: Health Insurance Coverage, Injuries in Utah, Health Status in Utah, Chronic Conditions in Utah, Socioeconomic Status and Health, Limitations of Activities, Interpersonal Violence, Health Care Access and Utilization, Lifestyle Factors, and the Medical Outcomes Study.

Funding Detail

Program: Program Operations

Function

The following administrative support functions are organized into Program Operations and report to the Executive Director:

• Office of Fiscal Operations - Directs the following functions:
  1. Budget - manages the preparation of the Health Department's annual appropriations request and monitors expenditures within the appropriated budget.
  2. Finance - Provides purchasing, accounting, payroll, and financial information services.
  3. Financial Audit - Performs financial audits of contracts with outside agencies as well as internal audit activities.
• Information Technology - Provides computer and communication technology support.
• Employee Support Services - Provides administrative support for office function, building, equipment, and grounds.

Funding Detail

Program: Medical Examiner

Function

The Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) is responsible for the investigation and certification of sudden and unexpected deaths that occur within the borders of the State. The specific circumstances surrounding any given death which place it under the jurisdiction of the OME are specified in UCA 26-4-7, such as:

• Sudden death while in apparent good health.
• Under suspicious or unusual circumstances.
• Resulting from poisoning or overdose of drugs.

The OME pays for roundtrip transportation of bodies under its jurisdiction. A contracted transportation service is used along the Wasatch Front; funeral homes provide all other transportation.

Funding Detail