NC S549

Directs the Department of Health and Human Services, Commission for Public Health, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources to study transitioning North Carolina's public health system from county-based to three regional public health authorities supported by one state agency or board.

Study must evaluate current public health service delivery structure, governance models for public health and mental health, appropriate geographic areas for regional authorities, and functions best suited for regional versus state-level responsibility.

Requires a separate study by the Department of Insurance, State Health Plan Division, Department of Health and Human Services, Commission for Public Health, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources on creating a health improvement analytics center for advanced data analysis.

Analytics center study must assess available public health indicators, develop simulation models for testing public health policies, identify methods to obtain data from non-state entities, and determine areas lacking population health data.

Both reports must be submitted to the Program Evaluation Division by December 1, 2015.