Oral

How can use of the performance standards drive national, state, and local public health policy? This session will explore the National Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP) and its implications for policy setting. The session will address the NPHPSP's role in driving performance improvement and the opportunity that the standards provide in creating stronger connections among partners and a greater impact on health. Attention also will be given to how the standards have been incorporated into legislation and have been used in statewide health improvement plans. The session also will highlight the new Version 2 instruments and their continued value in improving public health practice nationwide. Last, speakers will discuss preliminary national findings from the Version 1 data set and the implications that these data have for better understanding our nation's public health infrastructure. Seven national public health organizations – CDC, APHA, ASTHO, NACCHO, NALBOH, NNPHI, and PHF – have partnered to develop national model performance standards for state and local public health systems and local governing entities, based on the framework of the ten essential public health services. Numerous state public health systems, local public health systems, and boards of health have used the national standards since the launch of the NPHPSP in 2002 and find it a valuable tool for assessing public health activities and identifying opportunities for improvement. The standards – to be formally launched in late 2007 - were recently updated to ensure the content remains current and to address opportunities for user-friendliness and streamlining.

Session Objectives: Identify the opportunities provided by the NPHPSP to drive public health policy at the national, state, and local levels. Articulate the opportunities that the NPHPSP Version 2 instruments provides to public health leaders in improving their public health systems. Explain some of the key findings from the NPHPSP dataset.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing