APHA Conference

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Written by Becky Wexler and Hollis Calhoun, special for RWJF Public Health

State, local and tribal public health department representatives brought their burning questions on the forthcoming national accreditation program to two different sessions at the APHA conference. The first, held on Monday, was Session 3226.0: Organizational Strategic Planning, Community Health Improvement Planning and Preparing for Accreditation – Model Processes That Make it all Mesh, and the second, held on Tuesday, was Session 4173.0: Public Health Accreditation Program Update.

In both sessions, Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) CEO Kaye Bender gave an overview of the accreditation process so far, including the development of draft standards with input from stakeholders, the accreditation program’s recent milestones, and the selection of 30 health departments that will participate in a beta test of the national public health accreditation program through the end of 2010.

But what about health departments that aren’t participating in the beta test?  How can they prepare for accreditation before the national program formally rolls out in 2011? Bender provided specific recommendations on how public health departments can start preparing: review the standards and processes (still in draft form but not expected to change significantly), begin defining the work that they need to do to meet the new requirements, assess the health needs of the community, and organize the health department staff to prepare for accreditation.

“How long will accreditation last?” and “How much will it cost?” were common questions heard from the session participants. Bender informed the group that public health departments would have been re-accredited after five years (with a mid-point reporting cycle), and that there is a Workgroup specifically working on the fees and incentives piece of the program (the beta test will also inform this). Cost is a concern and  PHAB is doing all it can to ensure that the cost is reasonable.

These two sessions revealed that there is an effort underway in public health that is forward-looking and that aims to build on what’s working. Public health accreditation aims to foster quality improvement and high performing health departments across the country. That is not to say that we don’t currently have quality health departments. Rather, it’s ensuring that we have standards so that everyone in the country has access to quality services – whether you live in the Mid-Western suburbs, a Southern city or a West Coast rural town.