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Determinants of US local health department expenditures, 1992 through 1993
R L Gordon1, R B Gerzoff, T B Richards
1Virginia State Health Department, Richmond 23219, USA.
Objectives:
This study examined local health department expenditures and their relationship to several departmental characteristics, including the size of the population in the department's jurisdiction.
Methods:
Local health department characteristics were obtained from a 1992/93 nationwide mail survey and modeled by means of multiple linear regression.
Results:
Great variability existed in the per capita expenditures of local health departments, and approximately 70% of the variability was accounted for by differences in jurisdiction population size. Additional characteristics of the health departments explained another 11%. The average unadjusted per capita expenditure by local health departments nationwide was $26.
Conclusions:
Local health department expenditures that support essential public health services average a dime a day per person.