In 2023, the Indiana General Assembly appropriated $225 million in new biennium public health funding for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 for the Health First Indiana (HFI) program. Under the HFI initiative, the state disperses funds to local health departments (LHDs), and localities use the HFI funding to provide core public health services. The state dispersed a total of $75 million in 2024 and will disperse $150
million in 2025.
Before the HFI initiative, counties received a total of about $7 million from the state annually. The HFI initiative marks a 1,500 percent increase in the state’s average annual investment in public health in 2024 and 2025.
