Cross-Jurisdictional Sharing of Public Health Services

Cross-jurisdictional sharing (CJS) is a growing strategy that can be used at state, tribal, local, and territorial levels to address opportunities and challenges, such as tight budgets, limited key staff expertise, increased burden of disease, and regional planning needs. Since 2012, the Center for Sharing Public Health Services (CSPHS) with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and partnership involvement from the CDC, has provided technical assistance, resources, and best practices to communities interested in CJS approaches. CJS initiatives have been implemented across the nation, and CSPHS has developed a map to highlight these initiatives.

Measuring the Impact of CJS

In 2015, CSPHS developed a model to measure the impact of CJS arrangements on service and program effectiveness and efficiency. To test this model, the Center selected four projects that had recently implemented a CJS arrangement. Over an 18-month period, these four sites, located in Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Washington, conducted activities aimed at measuring changes in the effectiveness and efficiency of a program or service for which they had recently implemented a sharing agreement.

The final report provides more information about these projects, highlights challenges and successes, and includes promising findings, such as cost savings and increased number of clients served by public health services.

Implementing CJS Initiatives

COMPASS, Comprehensive Assistance to Shared Services, is a tool that can assist public health agencies and policymakers with access to tools, methods, and models to explore, prepare for, plan, implement, and improve a CJS arrangement.

With the Roadmap to Develop Cross-Jurisdictional Sharing Initiatives, your organization can implement successful CJS relationships that can have positive effects on the communities you serve.

Tribal-related resources about CJS are also available in the CJS Resource Library. These include case studies, toolkits, and more, addressing the challenges and opportunities that tribal communities often encounter when working across jurisdictional lines.