NEW! Developing an Effective MCH Planning Process: A Guide for Local MCH Programs
The Planning Guide has been updated and expanded for 2003! The Planning Guide has evolved from ten years of experience in a collaborative effort with the Maternal and Child Health Branch of the California Department of Health Services and the Family Health Outcomes Project. The purpose of this manual is to assist local public health agencies in conducting a needs-based, rational planning and resource allocation process. Although the processes described are generic to all planning efforts at the local level, the case examples are specific to Maternal and Child Health Programs that are required to conduct a formal needs assessment and planning process every five years in order to receive their annual Title V block grant funds. Chapter V, Program Evaluation and Performance Monitoring has been expanded to include more specific information on evaluation design and implementation, and Chapter VII has been updated with new FHOP products and data resources to aid MCH programs in their planning processes. All chapters and appendices have been posted on FHOP's website at: http://www.ucsf.edu/fhop/docs/guides/planning/planGuide.htm.

Revised! Data Templates are now available through the FHOP. These Templates are a set of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that automatically calculate rates and confidence intervals for a set of Title 5 recommended Health Indicators.

California state data has been added for both years 2000 and 2001, and they have been SIGNIFICANTLY REVISED since the last version, so PLEASE REVIEW CAREFULLY. Specifically, we have created 3 Templates for each indicator corresponding to the number of cases: > 100, < 100, and < 20. This was done because there is a different formula for the calculation of confidence intervals (CIs) above and below 100 cases and for areas with fewer than 20 cases there is a need to aggregate the data for 3 years before calculating rates and CIs.

FHOP does not advise using the Templates if you have fewer than 10 cases over 3 years since these numbers give unstable rates and very wide CIs. In these cases, FHOP recommends using case studies, child death review, and other qualitative techniques to examine a health issue.