Dear Editor,

Dr Dato raises a good point. While it is necessary for public health agencies to adapt to the current conditions and to take advantage of the new opportunities to promote and protect the health of the public, we also need to retain the valuable traditional public health services that won't be provided by others.

Retaining core, essential services and embracing a partnership between the public health and health care sectors should not be seen as in opposition to each other. Both are needed. The "3 buckets of prevention" framework may help expand evidence-based interventions-such as the use of community health workers for asthma-related home visits and support for community-based diabetes prevention sessions-by transferring their source of payment from public health grants to health care insurance reimbursement. This could free up public health funds so that they could support activities that are less likely to be funded by the health care sector-including the ones that Dr Dato highlights.

Sincerely,

-John Auerbach, MBA

Professor

Northeastern University

Boston, Massachusetts

Professor and Director

Institute on Urban Health Research and Practice

Bouve School of Health Sciences

Boston, Massachusetts