OLR Report 2016-R-0024 provides a brief overview of Connecticut’s local health departments.
Currently, Connecticut has 73 local health departments serving the state’s entire population. Fifty-three are full-time departments, while the remaining 20 are part-time. The full-time departments include 33 individual municipal health departments and 20 health district departments (multi-town departments serving from two to 20 towns). According to the Department of Public Health (DPH), based on the state’s 2013 estimated population, full-time health departments serve approximately 95% of the state’s population, while part-time departments serve the remaining 5%.
By law, a municipality may have a part-time health department if: (1) it did not have a full-time department or was not in a full-time district before January 1, 1998, (2) it has the equivalent of at least one full-time employee, and (3) the DPH commissioner annually approves its public health program plan and budget.
For more information, read the full report here.
