Oral

Accreditation is a well-established process for improving performance within organizations1 and takes place when a formal authority concludes that an organization meets predetermined standards.2 Leading this initiative is the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the continuous quality improvement of state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments through accreditation.3 The goal of the PHAB, set by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is to ensure that 60% of the US population is served by an accredited health department by 2015.4,5 Achievement of this goal is expected to promote and protect the health of the public by advancing the performance of state, tribal, territorial, and local public health departments.3,6 In this session we will describe public health accreditation as one of the most significant initiatives in the last decade to ensure and improve the accountability and quality of public health systems. In doing do so we will demonstrate how accreditation has identified gaps in the delivery of public health services and established a comprehensive set of standards which address the Triple Aim by achieving the simultaneous pursuit of: improving the experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing per capita costs of health care. In addition, we will provide a national, state and county-level perspective describing the experience of various jurisdictions of public health agencies as they implement 12 possible public health accreditation domains. As these domains are embedded in the organizational systems of the respective public health agencies, specific facilitators and barriers to compliance are identified and resolved. These learning moments are elaborated and discussed. In depicting this pursuit, leaders in prominent public health agencies will elaborate on their assumed roles and responsibilities as they leverage accreditation to achieve the Triple Aim. These roles and responsibilities may include, but are not limited to partnership with individuals and families, redesign of primary care, population health management, financial management, and macro system integration.

Session Objectives: 1) Demonstrate how public health accreditation addresses the Triple Aim 2) Identify successes and challenges to implementing accreditation domains and the associated roles and responsibilities of a health department as they use accreditation to achieve improved the experience of care, improve the health of populations and reduce per capita costs of health care. 3) Describe how accreditation may increase organizational legitimacy leading to greater public support and funding.