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Local Health Departments
Strategy
Local health departments are the governmental body serving a geographical area smaller than a state and recognized as having the primary statutory authority to promote and protect the public's health and prevent disease in humans. As funding for public health continues to decline, it is imperative that the local health departments (LHD) become more efficient in their operations. Opportunities to streamline processes and focus on quality improvement can assist LHDs as they adjust to decrease funding.
Local and tribal health departments are eligible for accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). Accreditation will assist LHDs in building on quality improvement, becoming more efficient, and will provide a means to be recognized for achieving high standards in public health as accreditation process is peer reviewed. The state department of health encourages the LHDs to pursue accreditation, either individually within the local county or multi-jurisdictional.
Resources
Current Local Health Departments Seeking Accreditation
Indiana Accreditation Partnership
The Indiana Accreditation Partnership (IAP) formed in 2014 to provide networking and shared planning among organizations in Indiana that support local health departments (LHDs) on a path to accreditation. IAP members seek to coordinate support for health departments, including basic promotion and orientation, assessment of readiness, collaboration among LHDs, resources for assessment and planning, strategies for funding, and communication with local officials. IAP members come from universities, public health professional associations, hospital networks, the state and local health departments and other not-for-profit entities that share interest in public health accreditation. The IAP meets in odd-numbered months at the Indiana Public Health Association office and/or by conference call. For more information, contact Jerry King at jking@inpha.org.
Fairbanks School of Public Health
The Center for Public Health Practice at IUPUI Fairbanks School of Public provides resources and technical assistance to local health departments (LHD) on public health accreditation, whether LHDs seek to go through the seven steps of national accreditation or complete some of the accreditation requirements, such as a community health assessment or community health improvement plan. The Center can provide consultation and technical assistance on community health assessments, community health improvement plans, workforce development, quality improvement, and performance management. Additionally, the Center supports a community of practice consisting of LHDs working towards accreditation. For more information, please contact Marcie Memmer at 317-274-2185 or mlmemmer@iu.edu.
National Association of County Health Officials (NACCHO)
The National Association of County Health Officials was founded in 1965. In early 1984, the organization experienced remarkable growth in membership and the organization opened its own office. In 1994, it was renamed to National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO).
Since its inception, NACCHO has sought to improve the public's health while adhering to a set of core values: equity, excellence, participation, respect, integrity, leadership, science & innovation.
Today, NACCHO comprises nearly 3,000 local health departments across the United States. Together, we form an organization focused on being a leader, partner, catalyst, and voice for change for local health departments around the nation.
Public Health Accreditation Board
Public Health Accreditation Board provides is a non-for-profit agency who review the services and day-to-day operations of a health department and determines if the health department meets the standards of best practice to receive accreditation status. There are several resources to assist in accreditation readiness.
- Documents to assist with readiness, terms, tips, do's & don'ts, tracking sheet, documentation preparation
- Orientation
- Benefits
ISDH Accreditation Coordinator
Patricia Truelove
PTruelove1@isdh.IN.gov
Document Examples
The following ISDH document examples have not yet been reviewed by PHAB and ISDH cannot guarantee the examples will fully meet all the requirements of their corresponding measure. Examples have been developed under Standards and Measures 1.5. For more information on areas of strengths and weaknesses within the examples please contact the ISDH Accreditation Coordinator, Patricia Truelove, at PTruelove1@isdh.IN.gov.
State Plans
- Indiana State Health Assessment Process (1.1.1S3)
- Indiana State Health Assessment (1.1.2S1)
- Indiana State Health Improvement Plan Process (5.2.1S1)
- Indiana State Health Improvement Plan (5.2.2S1)
ISDH Plans
- ISDH's Organizational Branding Strategy (3.2.2A1)
- ISDH's Performance Management System (9.1.2A1)
- ISDH's Strategic Planning Process (5.3.1A1)
- ISDH's Strategic Plan (5.3.2A1)
- ISDH's Workforce Development Plan (8.2.1A1)
- ISDH's Quality Improvement Plan (9.2.1A1)
Other