Key points
- Funding from the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) is helping health departments hire and retain staff, especially in smaller and rural communities.
- Recipients are strengthening core capabilities like accountability and performance management, partnerships, and organizational efficiency.
- Investments are accelerating how quickly health departments can share and act on public health data.
Why This Matters
PHIG is a 5-year investment in the people, services, and systems health departments rely on.
- Over $5 billion was awarded to 107 health departments and three national partners to plan, hire, and build capacity.
- The grant has helped health departments fill positions and retain skilled staff.
- Funding has helped improve data systems to detect threats early and support timely public health responses.
The findings below show what this investment has delivered so far.
- Tmong Udui, Acting Chief, Division of Health Information and Intelligence, Palau Ministry of HHS
Workforce
A stronger workforce for healthier communities
A strong public health workforce is the foundation that everything else depends on. Since 2022, PHIG has funded 9,479 positions at health departments across the country, helping them recruit, train, and retain the staff who respond to public health threats and help keep communities safe 24/7.
Half of these positions, 4,764 of 9,479, are at smaller local health departments that receive PHIG funding through their state rather than directly from the CDC. These are often rural, historically under-resourced departments that have struggled to fill vacancies. This shows PHIG isn't just reaching state capitals; it's reinforcing the communities that need it most.
Additional Workforce Findings
- Retention rates remain high at 89% for permanent staff, preserving institutional knowledge and reducing recruitment and hiring costs.
- 88% of recipients are implementing employee wellness and incentive programs, and 96% are implementing professional development programs, to help retain staff.
- National partners have provided more than 400 workforce development trainings and consultations to recipients, including 77 on recruiting and hiring and 165 on workforce development.
Data as of November 2025
Recipient Spotlight
Detroit Health Department
Detroit used PHIG funding to build a workforce recruitment and retention plan, helping the department beat its 2024 hiring goal by 35%.
Foundational Capabilities
Stronger services for greater impact
Foundational capabilities are the cross-cutting skills and services every health department needs to do its job, things like emergency readiness, community partnerships, and organizational efficiency. PHIG helps health departments build these capabilities so they can serve their communities better every day.
73% of PHIG recipients currently hold accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board, a sign that health departments are meeting rigorous public health practice standards.
Additional Foundational Capabilities Findings
- 85% of recipients are implementing activities to build partnerships.
- 87% of recipients are implementing activities to improve assessment and surveillance.
- 46% of recipients are using PHIG to implement emergency preparedness and response activities, building on emergency preparedness work supported by other federal funding.
- 93% of recipients are implementing activities to strengthen organizational competencies, such as leadership, governance, finance, and grants management. This helps federal disease-specific funding go farther.
- 55% of reporting health departments shortened the time needed to purchase goods and services.
- 48% of reporting health departments shortened the time needed to hire staff.
Data as of November 2025
Recipient Spotlight
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
LA County used PHIG funding to launch 10 Community Public Health Teams, completing over 50,000 home visits to 17,500 households, checking in on residents' health needs and connecting them to care and resources.
See how Los Angeles County is bringing care to residents' doors.
Recipient Spotlight
Tennessee Department of Health
Tennessee built a low-code contract tracking tool called CTRAC, helping the department streamline procurement, strengthen financial compliance, and improve contract oversight.
Learn how Tennessee is managing contracts and budgets more efficiently.
Data Modernization
Faster, smarter data for a healthier tomorrow
Public health depends on data moving quickly and accurately between labs, hospitals, and health departments. When that data moves faster, it supports earlier detection of health threats and a timely public health response. PHIG is helping health departments replace outdated, manual systems with modern tools that share data electronically and more efficiently.
Electronic lab reporting is the transmission of digital laboratory reports from laboratories and other testing entities to state and local health departments, reducing manual processes. Among PHIG recipients, the share of laboratory reports received electronically rose from 86% in 2023 to 96% in 2025. This progress is supported by both PHIG Data Modernization funding and CDC’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) cooperative agreement.
To build the workforce capacity for long-term data modernization, 91% of PHIG recipients now have a dedicated Data Modernization Director.
Recipient Spotlight
Palau Ministry of Health and Human Services
Palau used PHIG funding to move from data systems that made it hard to get timely, reliable information to a more connected system built for a small island nation. The Ministry of Health engaged clinicians and staff early so new systems reflect how people actually work.
See how Palau is strengthening public health across its islands.
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The information on this page was last reviewed by subject matter experts to ensure accuracy.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026). Public Health Infrastructure Grant: Status update. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/infrastructure-phig
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026). How is CDC's Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) supporting the nation's public health workforce? Workforce (A1) mid-grant evaluation findings (Dec 2022–May 2025) [Data brief]. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026). How is CDC's Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) strengthening the foundational capabilities of health departments nationwide? Foundational capabilities (A2) mid-grant evaluation findings [Data brief]. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026). How is CDC's Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) advancing data modernization in the nation's health departments? Data modernization (A3) mid-grant evaluation findings [Data brief]. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.