The Public Health Accreditation Board
In order to improve the health of the public, the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) is developing a national voluntary accreditation program for state, local, territorial and tribal public health departments. The goal of the accreditation program is to improve and protect the health of every community by advancing the quality and performance of public health departments.
Accreditation Beta Test
PHAB will test the accreditation program through a beta test that will evaluate the standards, measures, processes, and written support documents. Through the test, PHAB will identify improvements that should be made in order to ensure that accreditation program is logical, practical, and promotes continuous quality improvement in health departments.
PHAB has issued a letter of invitation and application for health departments to partner with PHAB on the beta test. PHAB has also issued a request for proposals for a qualified evaluation contractor to design and conduct a process evaluation of the beta test and make recommendations for improvements. Learn more.
Next Steps in the Development of Standards
PHAB wants to thank all those who took time to provide feedback on the draft voluntary national accreditation standards and measures for state, local, and territorial public health departments. Comments and suggestions were carefully reviewed and considered by PHAB's Standards Development Workgroup during a two day meeting in June. The Workgroup revised the standards, measures, and documentation guidance and will present the updated version to the Board of Directors for adoption at their meeting in July. The new version of standards, measures, and guidance for documentation will be available by the end of July.
Assessment Process Adopted
At their June meeting, PHAB's Board of Directors adopted an accreditation assessment process. The process was developed by PHAB's Assessment Process Workgroup.