Recorded presentation

Shirley Rutz, MPH, Center for Local Public Health Services, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, P.O. Box 570, Jefferson City, MO 65102 and Beverly Tremain, PhD, CHES, Community Health Support Services, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, 2405 S. 1st St., Kirksville, MO 63501, 660.665.3532, tremab@dhss.mo.gov.

Raising the bar: accrediting local public health agencies

Local public health agencies and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services acknowledge the need for a capable public health system and prepared public health workforce to achieve community health protection and improvement. Missouri chose voluntary accreditation of local public health agencies, an emerging concept on the national level, as one strategy to build public health capacity.

Missouri, unwilling to wait for development of a national model, developed its own program to be implemented by an independent agency. The Missouri Institute of Community Health (MICH), a statewide coalition of private and public sector members, is that accrediting body. This 501(c)(3) corporation grew out of a Robert Wood Johnson/Turning Point initiative to facilitate and promote excellence in community health systems.

Before the accreditation program began, a multi-level evaluation was designed to measure both process and impact. A web-based appraisal by the first round of applicants will evaluate the processes for application, self-assessment and pre-onsite and on-site review. Impact evaluation, administered one year after accreditation, will ascertain if participating agencies improved their overall performance score. The agency will explain how any higher ranking was achieved, whether by adopting best practices or modifying environmental factors to allow change to occur. The results will be shared with other agencies via the website and through MICH sponsored learning opportunities. MICH will build a repository of best practices that can be duplicated in Missouri and nation-wide and assure needed learning opportunities for public health workforce are accessible.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe one example of a set of standards to evaluate the capacity and performance of local public health systems.
• Assess the system capacity within the local health agency or within several local health agencies using Missouri accreditation standards.
• Apply the lessons learned in the development and implementation of an accreditation program to assist in decisionmaking regarding standards development for local public health agencies in other states or nationally.

Keywords: Standards, Accountability

Related Web page: www.michweb.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Missouri Institute for Community Health
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation