Lawmakers review Public Health Services budget; requests include program restorations, data modernization and rural physician incentives

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Monday heard a detailed presentation of the Department of Health and Welfare’s Division of Public Health Services budget, including requests to restore previously reduced programs, fund data modernization and sustain a rural physician incentive program.

Keith Bybee, division manager for budget policy analysis, briefed the committee on the division’s organization and budget trends, pointing to a sharp reconciliation of prior one‑time federal pandemic funds and the division’s current base appropriations. Bybee said the division had 256.52 full‑time equivalent positions established and four vacancies as of Aug. 31, 2024, and that trustee and benefit payments account for roughly half of the division’s budget.

The budget matters because the Division of Public Health Services manages immunizations, communicable‑disease prevention, vital records, laboratory services, suicide prevention and multiple grant programs that are distributed through local public health districts and community providers.

Director Alex Adams said the department treated the fiscal review as a form of zero‑based budgeting. “I would characterize it as a healthy exercise,” Adams said. “We got about $10,000,000 out of the budget or a 6% reduction year over year.” He said the division’s FY2025 appropriation…