Tracking changes in the public health system: what researchers need to know to monitor and evaluate these changes.

Just as the medical care system is changing in communities across the country, so too is the public health system. Reduced resources, fragmentation of traditional public health functions, the spread of managed care, and developing new partnerships are key among these changes. Two dozen public health officials and health policy researchers met in April at the Center for Studying Health System Change to discuss the changes in the financing and delivery of public health services and the research needed to monitor and evaluate the impact of these changes.