Who serves on a public health authority board?

A single county public health authority board may have seven to nine members and a multi-county public health authority board may have up to eleven members. In some instances, a public health authority may want to apply to the federal government to become a community health center so that it may be eligible for additional funding from specific federal programs.[1] The federal law governing community health centers has strict requirements related to board membership. Therefore, state law allows a public health authority interested in applying for that status to have up to 25 board members.

The public health authority board must include the following members: 

• a county commissioner (or the commissioner’s designee) from each county in the authority;
• a physician licensed to practice in North Carolina;
• a dentist licensed to practice in North Carolina;
• at least two licensed or registered professionals from any of the following categories:  optometry, veterinary science, nursing, pharmacy, engineering, or accounting;
• a member of the administrative staff of a hospital serving the authority service area; and
• a member of the general public.

Members of a single county board are appointed by the board of county commissioners.  In a multi-county board, the chair of each board of commissioners appoints the commissioner member (or the commissioner’s designee) and those members jointly appoint the other members of the authority board.

See G.S. 130A-45.1.

[1]See G.S. 130A-45.1(a) (“Boards which intend to pursue federally qualified health center (or look-alike) status may have no fewer than nine and no more than 25 members.)