PHAB is pleased to announce the release of the
This Guide presents the official requirements and process for the reaccreditation of public health departments. The Guide pertains to accredited health departments that submitted their application for initial accreditation on or before June 30, 2016.
Many accreditation organizations repeat the initial accreditation requirements and process for reaccreditation. However, PHAB determined that simply repeating initial accreditation would not continue to advance public health departments.
PHAB reaccreditation builds on initial accreditation, but is very different. Both the requirements and the process for reaccreditation have been designed to ensure that accredited health departments continue to evolve, improve, and advance, thereby becoming increasingly effective at improving the health of the population they serve.
GUIDE TO NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT REACCREDITATION: PROCESS AND REQUIREMENTS
(1) Describes the reaccreditation process. The process for a health department to be reaccredited is similar to initial accreditation but it is more efficient with shorter timeframes and a virtual site visit. It will continue to be a peer-reviewed process. Like the process for initial accreditation, it was designed to encourage ongoing quality improvement.
(2) Sets forth the Reaccreditation Standards and Measures. The Standards and Measures for reaccreditation move away from demonstrating that the health department has capacities and instead focuses on the use of those capacities, accountability, and continuous quality improvement.
(3) Describes the Population Health Outcomes Reporting requirement. The purpose of this requirement is for PHAB to begin to establish a national database of selected health outcomes and their associated objectives that accredited health departments have chosen to monitor. The Guide explains the purpose and process for the mandatory Population Health Outcomes Reporting.
REACCREDITATION LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
PHAB will provide a webinar for anyone interested in learning about the reaccreditation process and requirements on February 9 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. To register for the webinar, please go to
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7917062442999371010.
In the spring of 2017, PHAB will release a webinar specifically for health departments applying for reaccreditation. This webinar will provide helpful information for Accreditation Coordinators and health department directors. PHAB will release tip sheets and other supportive documents on reaccreditation, as needed.
FEES
Similar to the Initial Accreditation fee structure that went into effect on July 1, 2016, the reaccreditation fees will have a
Reaccreditation Review Fee for the first year and then an ongoing
Annual Accreditation Services Fee for each year thereafter. The fees will cover the continued subscription to the e-PHAB accreditation system, multiple training opportunities, a dedicated Accreditation Specialist, peer review by trained reaccreditation reviewers along with a virtual site visit, a thoughtful and deliberative review from the Accreditation Committee, and continued access to the growing number of accredited health department resources through PHAB's Accredited Health Department Portal. For future reaccreditation cycles, the health department will not pay an additional Reaccreditation Review Fee, as its cost will be included in the Annual Accreditation Services Fee. The fees can be found at
http://www.phaboard.org/accreditation-overview/what-does-it-cost/.
e-PHAB
The e-PHAB module for reaccreditation will be made available to accredited health departments on the first day of the calendar quarter in which the health department received initial accreditation, five years after receipt of initial accreditation. The health department, however, should be preparing its documentation many months before the e-PHAB module is made available to them. In the spring of 2017, PHAB will provide templates for documentation and instructions on the preparation of documents for uploading into e-PHAB.
For questions about reaccreditation requirements or the reaccreditation process, contact Robin Wilcox, Chief Program Officer, at rwilcox@phaboard.org. For questions about reaccreditation fees, contact Mark Paepcke, Chief Administrative Officer, at mpaepcke@phaboard.org. The Guide can be downloaded here as well as on PHAB's website.
