摘要：Local health departments (LHDs) play an important role in ensuring essential public health services. Geographic information system (GIS) technology offers a promising means for LHDs to identify geographic gaps between areas of need and the reach of public health services. We examined how large LHDs could better inform planning and investments by using GIS-based methodologies to align community needs and health outcomes with public health programs. We present a framework to drive LHDs in identifying and addressing gaps or mismatches in services or health outcomes. Local health departments (LHDs) play an important role in ensuring essential public health services, such as monitoring community health, informing and educating the public, and developing policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts. 1 However, services offered by LHDs do not always meet local population health needs or may not be offered in the geographic areas where needs are most concentrated. 2 , 3 Although most LHDs, especially large ones, collect local population-level health data as well as internal program service data, this information is not consistently used for decision-making. 2 , 4 Geographic information system (GIS) technology offers a promising means for LHDs to locate community health needs, match them with services and programs, and ultimately identify any geographic gaps between areas of need and the reach of public health services. However, GIS technology is most commonly used to display population health data; it is less commonly used to display locations of service provision, and it is only rarely used to display services and population health data together on the same map. 5 – 12
