Public Health Shared Services

Public Health Excellence Shared Services Grant Program

The Office of Local and Regional Health promotes and supports the development of inter-municipal shared service agreements (cross-jurisdictional sharing) that contribute to improvements in local public health capacity. By pooling resources, functions, and expertise, a consortium of cities and towns, especially those that are smaller or less prosperous, can improve compliance with meeting the Performance Standards and expand the public health services they offer residents.

Public Health Districts and Shared Service Arrangements in Massachusetts

In January 2020, this grant program was renamed the State Action for Public Health Excellence (SAPHE) Grant Program after the passage of the SAPHE Act. The program was reimagined to be responsive to the Special Commission of Local and Regional Public Health (SCLRPH) recommendation outlined in the 2019 Blueprint for Public Health Excellence report to “increase cross-jurisdictional sharing of public health services to strengthen the service delivery capacities of local public health departments”. Since its infancy, this program has grown to offer 319 Massachusetts cities and towns more than $50M of grant funding and relevant technical assistance to improve local public health effectiveness and efficiency. The SAPHE Grant Program strengthens local public health services and protections to residents in 91% of Massachusetts’ cities and towns through cross-jurisdictional sharing.