Panel Discussion

The Public Health Accreditation Board, the national accrediting body for local, state, and tribal health departments, will begin accepting applications for accreditation in 2011. PHAB encourages all public health departments to start preparing for accreditation now. From late 2009 through 2010, 30 local, state, and tribal health departments are participating in a beta test of the national accreditation program. In this session, three state beta test sites will present their experiences preparing for accreditation, including completing the PHAB self-assessment and collecting accreditation documentation. Speakers will focus on specific processes, tools, and lessons learned as they engaged agency leadership, formed an accreditation team, and collected evidence and scored the self-assessment. The objective of the session is to provide attendees with actionable information from the accreditation beta test in these three states, as well as providing an introduction to processes and tools for accreditation preparation. The session will be moderated by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO).

Session Objectives: 1. Describe the accreditation preparation experiences of three state public health departments participating as Public Health Accreditation Board beta test sites. 2. Identify processes and tools used to prepare for PHAB accreditation.