County Health Departments Get Ranked By State - WMBB News 13 - The Panhandle's News Leader

County Health Departments can now be added to the list of agencies that Governor Rick Scott has had ranked since the beginning of this year.

News 13 obtained a copy of a report that ranks each County Health Department based on performance.

It shows Bay, Jackson, Liberty, Franklin, Washington, and Calhoun counties are among the lowest performing in the state.

But, News 13's spoke to health officials who didn't seem too concerned.

The State Department of Health and the new Surgeon General call this report a "rough draft." But, this initial report has Bay, Calhoun, Franklin and Liberty counties as 4 of the five lowest ranking health departments in the state.

Scores were determined based on areas like it's impact to community health and the ability to stand up toward natural disasters.

On this draft, Liberty ranks the lowest with 48% out of 100, Franklin with 57%, Calhoun with 61%, and Bay at 70%. 

Jackson and Washington counties tie at 76% to round out the bottom 7 counties, state wide.

Only Walton and Gulf counties rank as "good".

"I think the Governor expects all of the state agencies to be peak performing agencies," said Marsha Lindeman, Administrator of the high ranking Gulf County Health Department.

She also serves as Interim Administrator of the low ranking Franklin County Health Department.

Lindeman sees both sides and calls this initial report a benchmark for county departments to improve, but she admits there are flaws in the system.

"It's a work in progress," she said.

This can be said for other ranking systems produced by the Governor's office.

In January, News 13 talked to Bay District School official, Gena Burgans about the new district ranking system, which is based solely on FCAT performance.

"It doesn't take any variables. It puts everybody on an even playing field and we know that not all districts are on that even playing field," said Burgans.

A survey of State Elections Supervisors was pulled from publication in April after many found it biased and disruptive to the election process.

News 13 spoke to Bay County Supervisor of Elections, Mark Andersen, about this issue this past April.

"Well, if you've got a survey that's flawed and the Secretary of State comes out and says, "Well, it's a great survey, you're at 88 percent." 88 percent? Is that acceptable in an election? Absolutely not," said Andersen.

So, in order to make sure the most accurate information goes into these health department rankings, the State Department of Health initiated a management council. They met for the first time last week.

"There was a lot of conversation about are these the right measures that do reflect the performance and the impact of the health department on its citizens in it's community," said Lindeman.

The target completion date for revising measures and finalizing the ranking process is set for this December.