Cross-Jurisdictional Sharing of Public Health Services

Overview

Health departments of all types and sizes are sharing services and exploring cross-jurisdictional sharing and collaboration arrangements more frequently.

Cross-jurisdictional sharing (sometimes referred to as CJS) is a growing strategy used at state, tribal, local, and territorial levels to address opportunities and challenges such as tight budgets, increased burden of disease, and regional planning needs.

What Is Cross-Jurisdictional Sharing of Services in Public Health?

Cross-jurisdictional sharing is “the deliberate exercise of public authority to enable collaboration across jurisdictional boundaries to deliver essential public health services” (Center for Sharing Public Health Services, 2013).

Cross-jurisdictional sharing can range from supporting informal arrangements to more formal changes in structure. In public health, cross-jurisdictional sharing often occurs between health departments or agencies serving two or more jurisdictions. Collaboration allows communities to solve issues or problems that cannot be easily solved by a single organization or jurisdiction.

Examples of cross-jurisdictional sharing include

• Regionalization of health departments, such as through the consolidation of two or more health departments
• Sharing staff between two or more health departments, such as an epidemiologist or sanitarian that supports multiple health department jurisdictions
• Sharing defined services, such as laboratory testing services or inspection services
• Collaborative assessment and planning processes that include two or more health departments and leads to shared priorities; examples might include regional preparedness plans, cross-border plans, or community health improvement plans