County staff say Public Health Modernization Plan is statutory; next steps tied to 2026 strategic plan

Washington County public health staff briefed the SPHER board on the county’s Public Health Modernization Plan, which presenters said is required by statute and will be submitted to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) by Dec. 31 for review.

"So this plan is required. It's a statutory requirement," Alex Coleman, a senior program coordinator on the county strategy team, told the board. Coleman said the plan summarizes the division's implementation of the foundational capabilities and programs in the state’s modernization framework, notes challenges to full implementation and sets near-term priorities.

Coleman said the plan was developed over two years with substantial input from staff and external partners and informed by a 2024 cost and capacity assessment. She described the document as a high-level operational plan that does not itself contain a detailed implementation plan. The public health division will begin a separate strategic planning process in 2026 to produce the operational roadmap and priorities for the next three to five years.

Board members welcomed the update and asked practical questions about partner engagement and distribution of the document. One commissioner said they had not located the modernization plan in their email and planned to compare the county’s plan with other counties’ modernization plans; presenters confirmed the plan had been shared to the board via memo and said staff would provide additional distribution details if needed.

Presenters said the modernization work will be coordinated with other ongoing efforts, including the county’s climate planning, and that the division will track progress as it develops the forthcoming strategic plan.