2026 Public Health Fiscal Austerity Webinar Series
CPHS is convening a public webinar series to discuss practical strategies for protecting communities when budgets tighten.
Why fiscal austerity? Many state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments have long navigated revenue volatility, expiring time-limited funds, and structural underinvestment. With many organizations confronting this fiscal austerity, leaders seek evidence-informed approaches to protect essential capabilities, steward limited resources, and communicate tradeoffs transparently. Our yearlong series is planned to have four quarterly arcs: Introduction to Fiscal Austerity, Assessing and Analyzing Impacts, Practical Strategies for Health Departments, and Practical Strategies for Communities.
This tentative schedule will continue to be revised until registration links become available. Recordings will be posted 3-5 weeks after each webinar and emailed to all registrants at that time as well.
Introduction to Fiscal Austerity
Navigating Fiscal Austerity: Lessons from Past Public Health Retrenchment
Date: January 28, 3 p.m. Central Time
Introduce the history and context of fiscal austerity for governmental public health through historical episodes (e.g., post-Great Recession, early 2000s federal cuts) and panelist perspectives to identify patterns in workforce reductions, service prioritization, and long-term recovery.
Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Austerity
Date: March 10, 2 p.m. Central Time
Discuss the legal and ethical considerations for fiscal austerity, including review of legal mandates for minimum service provision, liability issues in service withdrawal, and ethical frameworks for prioritizing populations or programs during cuts.
Protecting the Core: Prioritizing Foundational Public Health Services Under Fiscal Constraint
Date: March 25, 12 p.m. Central Time
Introduce frameworks for preserving essential capabilities (assessment, preparedness, communications) when discretionary funds shrink.
Assessing and Analyzing Impacts
Measuring Fiscal Stress: Indicators and Early Warning Systems
Date: April 22, 12 p.m. Central Time
Overviews quantitative and qualitative measures of fiscal stress (e.g., fund balance ratios, grant volatility,
vacancy rates, deferred maintenance) and demonstrates how to interpret signals before crisis conditions emerge.
Data-Driven Decision-Making in Lean Times
Date: May 29, 2 p.m. Central Time
Examines how evidence-based prioritization (e.g., cost-effectiveness analysis, activity-based costing, FPHS metrics) supports difficult allocation decisions, including examples of tools or dashboards developed by partner jurisdictions.
Scenario Planning for the Next Budget Contraction
Date: June 24, 12 p.m. Central Time
Demonstrate structured forecasting and scenario analysis for revenue losses across multiple streams
(federal, state, local, fee-based), including equity implications.
Practical Strategies for Health Departments
Communicating Austerity: Messaging Fiscal Realities to Policymakers and the Public
Date: July (date/time TBA)
Examine best practices for communications and messaging that prioritize transparency, public engagement, and advocacy during budget crises.
Workforce Under Constraint: Maintaining Capacity During Hiring Freezes and Layoffs
Date: August (date/time TBA)
Explores workforce triage strategies, cross-training, and retention incentives when hiring or salary increases are restricted; discusses burnout prevention and essential workforce preservation.
Resilience Funding: Building Financial Shock Absorbers
Date: September (date/time TBA)
Discusses strategies for developing reserves, diversifying revenue, and institutionalizing contingency planning (e.g., using ARPA or opioid settlement funds for structural stabilization).
Practical Strategies for Communities
Partnerships in Times of Austerity
Date: October (date/time TBA)
Overview strategies for leveraging partnerships to sustain functions via shared service models or braided funding, such as cross-jurisdictional or cross-sectoral partnerships with governments, hospitals, or nonprofits.
Collaboration and Shared Services as Fiscal Strategy
Date: November (date/time TBA)
Highlights regionalization models, shared epidemiology or environmental health units, and intergovernmental agreements that sustain essential services under fiscal duress.
Reinvestment and Recovery: Rebuilding Capacity After Austerity
Date: December (date/time TBA)
Explores how jurisdictions may reinvest when funds return, including discussion of lessons from previous funding rebounds, managing “catch-up” spending, and using crisis periods for modernization.
Contact Jason Orr if you have questions or suggestions for this webinar series.
