Department of Health administration manages the day-to-day operations and leadership functions of the agency. Staff in this area provides executive leadership, policy development and review, financial services, computer and information technology services, personnel services, communications, performance management and quality improvement, internal audit, and safety and emergency management support for the agency's programs.

Prevention is the cornerstone of public health. The Department of Health works through many channels to provide public health promotion resources, materials, and evidence-based strategies to educate and inform the public on how to be healthy and prevent disease. The Department provides technical assistance in community planning with the goal of making the healthy choice the easy choice. Activities include tobacco prevention and control; promotion of regular physical activity and proper nutrition; chronic disease prevention and disease management strategies; cancer prevention and control; and cardiovascular disease prevention and control.

The Drinking Water program works with the State Board of Health, local water systems, and communities to make sure that drinking water is safe and reliable. Activities include monitoring water quality tests; conducting inspections of water systems; enforcing regulations and safety measures; assisting water systems during planning, design, and construction of new facilities and upgrades; training and certifying water system operators; and providing funding for water system improvements.

Public health agencies play a key role in making sure our communities are prepared for emergencies. The Department of Health works with local health departments, hospitals, emergency managers, and others to help prepare our state for everything from natural disasters to bioterrorism threats. The Department coordinates the development of state, regional, and local public health emergency response plans as part of this work. The agency also works with emergency responders and others to provide training and exercises on topics such as mass vaccination and risk communication. The Department is improving preparedness in Washington State through a variety of activities including facilitating local, regional, state, and tribal partnerships, public education campaigns and activities, and building systems to quickly share health information.

The Department of Health works with public health partners and businesses to protect the community from hazards in the environment by educating the public about how to make and keep their environment safe and healthy; developing environmental public health standards for septic systems and swimming pools; conducting environmental surveillance and technical assistance to help the public prevent disease spread by animals; monitoring sources of radiation, radioactive materials, and radioactive waste; providing resources to clean areas that have been contaminated by dangerous materials; monitoring and preventing pesticide-related illness; and helping communities minimize or eliminate exposure to contaminants in the environment.

The Department of Health helps make sure that food served in restaurants and other businesses is safe to eat. The Department ensures that shellfish harvested from Washington waters is also safe to eat. Activities include monitoring local waters and beaches where shellfish grow for pollution and harmful toxins; developing public health standards for the safe sale and service of food; educating food service workers and the public on proper food safety; inspecting commercial shellfish companies; and investigating and controlling outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.

The Department of Health maintains an active partnership and continuous communication with public health decision-makers at the local, state, and federal level. Coordinated response is essential in responding to widespread disease threats, negotiating policy and budget objectives for health improvement and assuring that information can flow across county lines or to other health partners. Activities include providing resources for emergency medical and trauma services; promoting access to healthcare in rural communities; increasing electronic communications between the Department, local health partners, hospitals, and emergency responders; coordinating response to emerging health issues with federal, state, and local partners; offering certified copies of birth, death, divorce, and marriage records to the public; building and supporting information networks to provide data that helps people make good decisions about public health. Blue Ribbon Commission and Local Capacity Development Funds distributed to local jurisdictions are an essential source of support to assure a minimum level of public health services everywhere in the state and are primarily used to address issues pertaining to communicable disease, maternal and child health, immunizations and community health assessments.

Working with many state and local partners, the Department of Health promotes healthy behaviors and the use of preventive health services. The agency promotes regular health checkups for everyone and prenatal care and education for parents. Some of the agency's most important work is to distribute vaccines for children and investigate and control vaccine-preventable disease. The agency provides health promotion materials and consultation on the best strategies; provides nutrition and health education for pregnant women; and helps thousands of state residents by providing healthy food through the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. The Department of Health supports family planning/reproductive health services for women, men, and teens; linking children and families to health services; and providing programs to prevent injuries.

The Department of Health's Public Health Laboratories serve the people of our state by providing accurate and timely laboratory results. The laboratories' broad spectrum of tests are available to local health agencies, Department of Health programs, and the state's health care and emergency response system. During an emergency response, testing services are available 24/7 or on an as needed basis. The laboratories provide a broad range of tests including those that look for communicable disease, shellfish poisoning, foodborne illnesses, health issues in newborn babies, and contamination of air, water, and food that may endanger human health.

The State Board of Health is housed within the Department of Health but works independently to understand and prevent disease across the entire population. The Board adopts rules that protect the public’s health and guide many public health functions, including newborn screening, food safety, public water systems, and immunizations for school and child care entry. The Board also serves as a public forum and works with many public and private partners to develop public health regulations and policy. The Board assists the Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities in developing a state action plan to eliminate health disparities by race/ethnicity and gender.

All people in Washington State deserve to have access to competent and safe, quality healthcare. The Department's programs work to build and maintain systems so that people in all parts of the state can access healthcare. Programs include: a specialized emergency medical services and trauma care system that sets standards and works with hospitals and ambulance/aid services to ensure that the critically ill and injured get timely, high quality and appropriate care; Indian health planning, providing technical assistance to help address health disparities in this population; rural healthcare systems development and health professional shortage area designations, providing federal funding and technical assistance to hospitals and medical services to help maintain and improve care in rural communities. The Department of Health assists communities to recruit and retain physicians, dentists, and nurses in rural and underserved parts of the state.

Patient and consumer safety are among the Department of Health's top priorities. The Department works to ensure that health care providers and facilities comply with health, safety, and professional standards through licensing, investigation, and disciplinary activities. The Department collaborates with health profession boards, commissions and committees to regulate care by providers. The Department of Health provides information to health care facilities, health care professionals, and consumers that allows them to make informed decisions.

The Department of Health works with many partners to protect people from communicable and infectious disease. The agency educates the public on ways to stay healthy and avoid contracting and spreading communicable and infectious disease. It monitors and tracks disease trends as well as the rate and frequency of infectious disease. State health programs pay for drugs and limited medical care for HIV clients and works with local health agencies to investigate disease outbreaks. The Department also works to prevent and reduce the spread of communicable and infectious disease.

The Department of Health is required as a state agency to make payments to other agencies for certain statewide, central service operation costs. These payments are mandatory and are billed to the department based on either the department’s actual service usage or a statewide allocation method. . These charges include but are not limited to payments for use or support for the following: auditing from the State Auditor’s Office; archive services and storage from Secretary of State; personnel services and personnel systems; financial systems; state data center; network and security from Department of Enterprise Services; and risk management from the Office of Financial Management.