Performance standards: The first step in linking community health assessment practice with public health impact and outcome

Comprehensive community health assessment is a foundational step towards improving and promoting healthier communities. In Florida, this core public health function of systematically collecting, analyzing and using information to educate and mobilize communities, develop priorities, gather resources and plan actions to impact the public's health is supported by the Department of Health's COMPASS (Comprehensive Assessment, Strategic Success) initiative. Among the steps to institutionalize and evaluate practice in Florida are the development of performance standards, benchmarks and a monitoring process that may be used to measure impact and outcomes. As a participating state in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Cooperative Agreement to Support Assessment Initiatives, Florida's COMPASS team has been tasked with convening a multi-state workgroup to identify and develop performance standards for community health assessment practice. Drawing from National Public Health Performance Standards Program measures and state-identified performance measures related to community health assessment, the standards and benchmarks are being developed through a collaborative effort which will yield products for application across public health systems. It is envisioned that these standards and benchmarks will provide guidance for robust practice, deliver tools that can be used to monitor performance and outcomes and contribute to the development of an evidence-base for community health assessment practice. This presentation will describe the rationale, development process and resulting products.