Release of the revised Essential Public Health Services Framework

The 10 Essential Public Health Services (EPHS) framework was developed in 1994 by a federal working group and serves as the description of the activities that public health systems should undertake in all communities.

Organized around the three core functions of public health (assessment, policy development and assurance), the framework is a roadmap for health departments and community partners across the nation. For the last 25 years, EPHS has driven public health department accreditation, shaped curricula and provided concrete public health priorities.

Given the public health landscape’s dramatic shift since the framework’s creation, many public health leaders agreed to revisit whether and how this framework can better reflect current and future practice. In 2020, the Public Health National Center for Innovations (PHNCI) and the de Beaumont Foundation, in partnership with an EPHS Task Force of public health experts, revised the EPHS.

As a leading voice in health care, the AMA has an opportunity to encourage the adoption and implementation of the new framework across the health care industry and the nations' communities.

In support of AMA policy and the AMA's commitment to the betterment of public health, the Center for Health Equity and AMA's Chief Health Equity Officer Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH, worked with the EPHS Task Force to bring the framework in line with modern public health needs.

On Sept. 9, 2020, the EPHS Task Force revealed a revised version of the 10 Essential Public Health Services. The revised EPHS centers around equity and promotes policies, systems and overall community conditions that enable optimal health for all and seek to remove systemic and structural barriers that have resulted in health inequities.

An EPHS toolkit has been created to help practitioners, public health departments, academia and others update content and educational materials to reflect the revised 10 EPHS. Spread the word today by utilizing the toolkit materials.

Explore more about the EPHS revisions, as well as the AMA's collaboration and partnership in updating the framework.