Munizay, a contractor working with the state Office of Local and Regional Health (OLRH) through consulting firm BME, told the Greater Burrows Partnership for Health Advisory Board on Jan. 9 that the state will begin a Foundational Public Health Services (FPHS) shared‑services review next week that requires participating shared service arrangements and PHE grantees to provide fiscal‑year 2024 data.

The review is a statewide data‑collection and planning effort designed to inventory local public health spending, staffing and service delivery using two tools: a cost tool (to capture staff costs, revenue, grants and contracted services) and a shared service delivery tool (to document which FPHS areas and capabilities each municipality provides). Munizay said the tools are Excel spreadsheets hosted in SharePoint and that the state and its contractor will provide one‑on‑one support to complete them.

The FPHS framework organizes local public health work into five foundational areas and eight foundational capabilities. Munizay said the state will use the collected data to “modernize local public health in Massachusetts” and to inform future planning and prioritization at the state and SSA (shared service arrangement) level. Participation is required for communities that receive PHE grant funding, she said.

Board members were told the review timeline begins with a kickoff webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 14 and will include regular Tuesday webinars through the month; an intensive walk‑through of the service delivery tool is scheduled for the week of Jan. 21 and the cost tool walkthrough for Jan. 28. Munizay said the data collection period will run from January through April, with analysis completing in May, and that the state specifically requests fiscal‑year 2024 information.

Mikaela, the shared‑services coordinator for the Greater Burrows SSA, and Isabella, the SSA fiscal lead, were named as local contacts who will receive access to the tools and help coordinate information from each town. Munizay asked municipalities to prepare payroll and staff lists and to identify any inspectional services departments that may separately report inspectional spending. She clarified that the state seeks revenue that is received directly by a health department (for example, funds in a health department revolving account) rather than fees that go into a municipality’s general fund.

Board members raised questions about how staffing changes since FY2024 would be treated; Munizay said the state wants an accurate picture of FY2024 even if current staffing differs and welcomed short narrative context from towns explaining structural changes. She also said the contractor team will bring in subject‑matter experts or OLRH staff as needed, and named Jess Furland as another OLRH contact who will support the process.

Next steps outlined at the meeting: the Jan. 14 kickoff webinar, distribution of the SharePoint links and slide deck, and scheduling one‑on‑one sessions to grant access and begin filling the tools. Munizay and the shared‑services coordinator offered to assist municipalities that lack a full‑time health director or fiscal staff.