Per Capita Public Health Spending measures the dollars per person that are spent on public or population health in a state.  High spending on these health programs are indicative of states that are proactively implementing preventive and education programs targeted at improving the health of at-risk populations within a state. 

This measure includes expenditures in three categories as defined by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO):

Direct Public Health Care Services: Includes local health clinics, Ryan White AIDS Grant expenditures, and American Indian health. Expenditures may include funds spent on pharmaceutical assistance for the elderly, childhood immunization, chronic disease hospitals and programs, hearing aid assistance, adult day care for persons with Alzheimer's disease, health grants, services for medically handicapped children, the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program, pregnancy outreach and counseling, chronic renal disease treatment programs, AIDS testing, breast and cervical cancer screening, tuberculosis (TB) programs, emergency health services, adult genetics programs and phenylketonuria (PKU) testing.

Community-Based Services Health Expenditures: State funds spent on health services provided in a community setting. Examples include rehabilitation services, alcohol and drug abuse treatment, mental health community services, developmental disabilities community services and vocational rehabilitation services. These expenditures do not include funds spent on services eligible for Medicaid reimbursement, which are reported under Medicaid.

Population Health Expenditures: Includes programs such as AIDS and other STD control, screening, outreach, and monitoring, including data collection and registries, immunization, including the cost of vaccine and infrastructure only, infectious disease control, including analysis and monitoring, emerging infections, microbiology lab services, food and lodging licensing and inspection, food safety and inspection, fish consumption advisory, pest eradication (such as rats, roaches, and mosquitoes) and veterinary diseases affecting the food chain, such as mad cow disease.

This report compares values using the new method of calculating. Table 30 displays the 2007 ranks, based on 2003 data (National Association of State Budget Officers).  It ranges from more than $400 per person in Alaska and Hawaii to less than $75 per person in Iowa, Arkansas, Idaho and Utah.  The data has not changed from the 2005 and 2006 Editions.  

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