| Course | DPH 840 Strategic Planning and Financial Management in Public Health |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 |
| Paper type | Environmental scan and strategic analysis |
| Length | About 1,146 words, 7 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Doctor of Public Health |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for DPH 840 Module 2
Reading the Terrain: An Environmental Scan and Strategic Analysis for a Local Public Health Agency
Student Name
Doctor of Public Health Program, Aspen University
DPH 840: Strategic Planning and Financial Management in Public Health
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Reading the Terrain: An Environmental Scan and Strategic Analysis for a Local Public Health Agency
A strategic plan is only as sound as the analysis beneath it. Before setting goals, an organization must understand its community, its resources, its partners and the forces that will shape the next five years. This paper presents an environmental scan and strategic analysis for the 310-person health department of a composite county, home to 420,000 people, with a $41 million budget, and it identifies the strategic issues its plan must address.
Sources for the Scan
The scan drew on the joint community health needs assessment completed with the county's hospital system, five years of budget and grant records, a staff survey with a 71% response rate, interviews with 22 partners, county economic and demographic projections and state and federal policy trends. Using several sources reduced reliance on any single perspective and allowed findings to be cross-checked.
External Scan
A structured scan of political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental forces identified the following. Politically, a new county commission majority favors lower taxes. Economically, rising housing costs are displacing low-income families. Socially, the population aged 65 and older will grow by 30% within ten years. Technologically, the state is launching a new immunization and disease reporting system. Legally, state law now requires the department to lead overdose prevention planning. Environmentally, extreme heat days have doubled over two decades.
Community Health Findings
The needs assessment identified uncontrolled hypertension, overdose deaths, behavioral health access and housing instability as top concerns, with the heaviest burden in three neighborhoods on the county's east side. Life expectancy in those neighborhoods is nine years shorter than in the healthiest area. These gaps point toward a plan focused on equity rather than countywide averages alone.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
The table summarizes the analysis, limited to the most important items and supported by evidence.
| Category | Item | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | Trusted immunization and communicable disease programs | Community survey: 78% trust rating |
| Strength | Joint needs assessment with hospital system | Shared data and priorities since last cycle |
| Weakness | Two-thirds of budget in restricted categorical grants | Budget records |
| Weakness | Aging data systems and limited analytic staff | Staff survey; vacancy data |
| Opportunity | Hospital community benefit funds for shared priorities | Implementation strategy commitments |
| Opportunity | State overdose settlement funds | New statutory allocation |
| Threat | Pressure to cut local tax support | Commission budget directions |
| Threat | Workforce turnover and retirements | One-quarter of staff eligible to retire within five years |
Funding Trends
Public health receives a small and, over time, shrinking share of US health spending (Himmelstein & Woolhandler, 2016). Historical estimates show that governmental public health spending has fluctuated with federal emergency funding rather than growing steadily with need (Leider et al., 2018). The department's own budget followed this pattern: a sharp rise during the pandemic, then a fall as emergency grants ended.
Why Funding Matters
Funding is not only an operational concern. Mays and Smith (2011) tracked local health departments over time and found fewer deaths from preventable causes, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and infant deaths, where public health spending grew. Protecting and diversifying funding is therefore a strategic issue in its own right, not merely an administrative one.
Internal Scan
The staff survey revealed pride in the department's mission but frustration with outdated systems, heavy reporting burdens and limited career paths. Programs operate largely in separate funding streams, making it hard to shift staff to emerging priorities. Leadership is stable, but a quarter of staff could retire within five years, including several program managers. Staff also noted strong collaboration within programs but little across them, which slows responses to problems that cross program lines.
Stakeholder Input
Partners described the department as reliable in emergencies but less visible in day-to-day community issues such as housing and transportation. Community organizations on the east side asked for more consistent presence and for data broken down by neighborhood. The hospital system wanted the department to lead coordination on hypertension and overdose.
Using the Analysis Well
Analyses of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are often criticized for producing long lists that never shape decisions (Helms & Nixon, 2010). This scan avoided that by limiting items, attaching evidence and asking, for each opportunity and threat, which strength could respond and which weakness would get in the way.
Strategic Issues
The analysis produced four strategic issues framed as questions. How can the department reduce the east-side life expectancy gap? How can it lead countywide action on hypertension and overdose with partners who control most resources? How can it diversify funding beyond restricted grants? How can it build and retain a workforce with modern data skills?
From Issues to Options
Each issue suggests options. The equity gap could be addressed through a place-based initiative in the three neighborhoods. Coordination could be strengthened through a formal partnership with the hospital system. Funding could be diversified through settlement funds, community benefit dollars and flexible local support. Workforce needs could be met through data fellowships and succession planning.
Limits of the Scan
The scan reflects conditions at one point in time. Political and funding conditions may change quickly, and some community voices, particularly of residents without stable housing, were underrepresented. The department will update key elements annually and add outreach to underrepresented groups.
Workforce as a Strategic Issue
Workforce findings deserve emphasis. Nationally, many public health workers reported intent to leave after the pandemic, and the department's own survey echoed that trend. Losing experienced managers without successors would weaken every other priority. The scan therefore treats workforce not as a support function but as a strategic issue on par with funding and equity.
Data Gaps
The scan also revealed data gaps. Neighborhood-level data on chronic disease depend on hospital records that do not capture uninsured residents who avoid care, and overdose data arrive months late. Improving data timeliness and coverage will be necessary to monitor any strategy aimed at the east side.
Testing the Analysis With the Community
Draft findings were shared at two community meetings on the east side. Residents confirmed the priorities but added transportation to clinics and safety in parks, which had not surfaced in the data. The final analysis includes these concerns and notes how they will be considered in strategy development.
Benchmarking
Comparing the department with peer counties of similar size helped interpret findings. Its per capita spending falls below the peer median, its immunization coverage is above it and its overdose death rate sits in the highest quartile. Benchmarks sharpen priorities by showing where the county lags most.
Conclusion
The environmental scan and strategic analysis show a trusted department facing restricted funding, workforce risks and a deep equity gap, but with real opportunities in partnerships and new funds. Four strategic issues emerge to guide the plan: closing the east-side gap, leading shared priorities, diversifying funding and strengthening the workforce. The analysis narrows the plan's choices to where evidence and opportunity meet.
References
Helms, M. M., & Nixon, J. (2010). Exploring SWOT analysis: Where are we now? A review of academic research from the last decade. Journal of Strategy and Management, 3(3), 215-251. https://doi.org/10.1108/17554251011064837
Himmelstein, D. U., & Woolhandler, S. (2016). Public health's falling share of US health spending. American Journal of Public Health, 106(1), 56-57. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302908
Leider, J. P., Resnick, B., Bishai, D., & Scutchfield, F. D. (2018). How much do we spend? Creating historical estimates of public health expenditures in the United States at the federal, state, and local levels. Annual Review of Public Health, 39, 471-487. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-013455
Mays, G. P., & Smith, S. A. (2011). Evidence links increases in public health spending to declines in preventable deaths. Health Affairs, 30(8), 1585-1593. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0196
DPH 840 Module 2 instructions, in plain terms
Developing strategy begins with analysis, which Aspen's catalog names as part of the administrator's role in DPH 840, and the module's classroom prompt is not public, so this sample carries out a full scan. Strategic analysis assignments generally ask for external and internal scans, a structured summary such as a table of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and the strategic issues that follow. List your sources before your findings. Scan external forces systematically. Keep each category of the summary short and tie every item to evidence. Include staff and community voices. Frame strategic issues as questions the plan must answer. Note the date of every data source so readers know how current the scan is.
Inside the DPH 840 Module 2 example
Across roughly a thousand words and seventeen headings, the paper lists its sources, scans six external forces and summarizes community health findings. A three-column table then sets out strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with evidence. Funding trends and why funding matters come next, followed by the internal scan, stakeholder input and how to keep the analysis useful. Strategic issues, options and the scan's limits follow, along with workforce, data gaps, testing findings with the community and benchmarking against peer counties. A margin note explains that listing sources first makes every finding traceable. The conclusion names four strategic issues for the plan. Each item in the summary table can be traced back to one of the sources listed at the start, and the four strategic issues grow directly from the table.
Where the marks sit in the DPH 840 Module 2 rubric
Environmental scans are graded on breadth of sources, systematic coverage of external forces, evidence behind each finding and a clear link to strategic issues. Himmelstein and Woolhandler on spending trends, Leider and colleagues' expenditure estimates, Mays and Smith's mortality study and a SWOT review make up its APA-formatted evidence. The table avoids the long, vague lists critics warn against. Strategic issues are framed as questions, which keeps the plan focused. Community testing of the findings shows the analysis was checked with residents, not only with data. Benchmarks against peer counties show where the department lags most.
DPH 840 Module 2 help from the desk
Scans often become catalogs of facts that never shape decisions. Tables of strengths and weaknesses can run to dozens of items with no evidence. Limit each category to a handful of items. Attach a source to every item. Ask which strength can meet each threat and which weakness blocks each opportunity. Compare your organization with peers. If your data feel thin, a tutor can help you find county health rankings, budget documents and survey sources. Finish with no more than four strategic issues, each stated as a question. Share a draft with a colleague who knows the community and ask what you missed; outside eyes catch blind spots.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More DPH 840 and Doctor of Public Health sample papers
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- DPH 840 Module 5: Public Budgets and Population Health
- DPH 840 Module 6: Health Economics Applied to a Decision
- DPH 840 Module 7: Strategy for a Vulnerable Population
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DPH 840 Module 2 questions, answered
What does DPH 840 Module 2 usually ask for?
Aspen's DPH 840 covers developing strategy in health organizations, so an environmental scan and strategic analysis is a typical assignment. Confirm with your classroom prompt.
What is an environmental scan?
A structured review of external forces and internal conditions that could affect an organization's future.
How do you make a SWOT analysis useful?
Limit each category to key items, attach evidence and link each item to strategic choices.
Where can I find a free DPH 840 Module 2 sample paper?
Read the environmental scan here, including its table of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with evidence.
What is included in a strategic analysis for DPH 840 Module 2?
Sources, an external scan of political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental forces, an internal scan, a summary table with evidence and the strategic issues that result.