National Voluntary Accreditation for Public Health Departments

Preparing for Accreditation

Concurrent with PHAB activities, CDC and national partners (the American Public Health Association, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, National Association of County and City Health Officials, National Association of Local Boards of Health, National Indian Health Board, Public Health Foundation, and National Network of Public Health Institutes) are working to ensure state, tribal, local and territorial health departments are engaged in and aware of these efforts and are prepared to seek accreditation.

Preparation Tools and Resources

National Public Health Performance Standards Program
The National Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP) is a National Partnership initiative that has developed National Public Health Performance Standards for state and local public health systems and for public health governing bodies.

ASTHO Accreditation and Performance Standards
ASTHO provides information about accreditation preparation tools, current activities in states, and the work of the NPHPSP, as well as other information on its Web site for state health departments.

NACCHO Accreditation and Quality Improvement
NACCHO provides tools, resources, and training opportunities to local health departments  to assist in their preparation for accreditation and in using quality improvement  processes to improve performance and meet PHAB standards.

NALBOH Accreditation and the Role of Governance
NALBOH provides resources and information to support the governance and leadership role of boards of health.  Boards of health can find information and resources about accreditation, quality improvement and the NPHPSP on NALBOH’s Web site.

NIHB and Tribal Public Health Accreditation
The NIHB Web site provides information, resources, and links addressing the development of tribal public health accreditation. 

PHF and Performance Management and Quality Improvement
The PHF Web site includes assorted tools and resources related to performance management, quality improvement, public health improvement, workforce development and other topics.  Performance management resources include the body of work developed by the Turning Point Performance Management Collaborative.

Other Resources to Learn More

• Accreditation Research
  CDC, in partnership with NNPHI, has funded several research projects to explore key issues in public health agency accreditation. Selected through a competitive review process, the following projects have been supported through two cycles of a NNPHI-managed open request for proposals.

• North Carolina Institute for Public Health—“Systematic Research on Incentives for Public Health Accreditation”
• Michigan Public Health Institute—“Examining the Costs of Preparing and Applying for Accreditation: Developing Cost Measures”
• The National Opinion Research Center, Walsh Center for Rural Analysis—“Challenges and Opportunities for Rural Health Departments Seeking Accreditation"
  

• Public Health Grand Rounds Satellite Broadcast and Webcast: “Standards, Accreditation, and Improvement—Raising the Bar of Public Health Performance”
  A May 2008 Public Health Grand Rounds broadcast program provides information about national and state efforts in accreditation and improvement, as well as  some on-the-ground insight into what accreditation can mean for a local health department.

• Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, Accreditation and Quality Improvement Special Editions
  Special issues of the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice focused on public health accreditation and quality improvement have been published in recent years. These issues include commentaries and articles about the Exploring Accreditation Initiative, CDC’s perspective on voluntary accreditation, the role of the NPHPSP in accreditation and quality improvement, the Operational Definition, current state-based efforts and more.
  Journal of Public Health Management & Practice—July/August 2007—Accreditation
  Journal of Public Health Management & Practice—January/February 2010, Volume 16, Issue 1—Quality Improvement in Public Health
  

Other Accreditation Resources and Publications

• Visit PHAB Publications and Reports for other selected publications and reports related to public health agency accreditation.