Preparing for accreditation: Integrating the prerequisites, accreditation, and quality improvement in local health departments

On the verge of a historical milestone, our national public health system is preparing to make a quantum leap towards a strengthened infrastructure with the launch of the first national accreditation program for public health departments set for this Fall. The goal of the Public Health Accreditation Board's program is to improve and protect the health of every community by advancing the quality and performance of public health departments. The prerequisites for national accreditation and current efforts to assist local health departments (LHDs) in meeting these requirements will be described. This session will also feature two LHDs that participated in PHAB's beta test process to test the draft accreditation process and standards and measures, who will share first-hand insight into their use of quality improvement (QI) processes to prepare for accreditation by improving upon priority areas realized through the PHAB self-assessment. Participants will learn how one site used QI to help conduct a community health assessment, one of the prerequisites for accreditation, and how another site used QI to address PHAB standards related to internal departmental policies.

Participants considering accreditation will gain an understanding of the prerequisites for accreditation, next steps to positioning their own agency for accreditation, and the relationship between quality improvement and accreditation.