ASTHO Annual Meeting

Dr. Terry Cline, PHAB Board member and Oklahoma Commissioner of Health, joined Chris Bujak and Marni Mason to conduct a session on quality improvement and performance management in public health at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon, on October 20, 2011. Those discussions resulted in a positive buzz around the ASTHO meeting about state health departments preparing for accreditation.

 

Also on October 20, 2011, ASTHO's McCormack Award was presented to Dr. Paul Halverson, PHAB Board member and Director and State Health Officer of the Arkansas Department of Health. Established in 1950, the McCormack Award is presented each year to a current or former public health official who has served for at least ten years, been a chief state health official for at least five years, demonstrated excellence, and made a significant contribution to the knowledge and practice of the field. Dr. Halverson has been a consistent leader in the work on accreditation throughout his career, and his tenure as president led ASTHO through the change of a national administration as well as through H1N1.

 

Kaye Bender received the ASTHO national-level Excellence in Public Health Award on October 19, 2011 for leadership in the public health department accreditation activities resulting in the official launch of the program. PHAB continues to appreciate the support that ASTHO gives to state health departments preparing for accreditation. ASTHO remains a strong strategic partner with PHAB in our efforts to bolster the nation's governmental public health system.  

 

Dr. Paul Halverson provides a few remarks after receiving the ASTHO McCormack Award.

 

APHA Annual Meeting

PHAB's booth was a busy place at the recent American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting. We reconnected with many of our volunteers and partners, but we also met a number of new health department staff who engaged in conversations with us about accreditation. We were especially grateful for the number of students and other public health professionals who came to our booth and talked with us about accreditation. We are pleased to welcome more than 125 new members to the PHAB e-newsletter community!

 

We also entertained dialogue with audiences in two sessions on accreditation preparedness. Kaye Bender and Robin Wilcox presented "Is Your Health Department PHABulous? Say It With Accreditation" on Monday, October 31, 2011. PHAB Board members Bud Nicola, Bill Riley, and Carol Moehrle held a session entitled 'Public Health Accreditation: Latest News from the Public Health Accreditation Board" on Tuesday, November 1, 2011; and Bill Riley presented a session entitled "Application of Quality Improvement Science to the Consensus Definition of Quality" on November 2, 2011. Even with over 13,000 participants at the APHA Annual Meeting, accreditation and quality improvement were hot topics!

 

The APHA Affiliate Day 2011 also included a robust discussion about accreditation of health departments on Saturday, October 29, 2011. Kaye Bender was able to dialogue with leadership from the state public health association affiliates of APHA about the importance of health department accreditation.

 

The APHA Governing Council approved a policy entitled "Increasing Efforts to Encourage Governmental Health Departments to Seek Accreditation," which called for continued support of health departments preparing for, achieving, and maintaining accreditation.

 

Kaye Bender was the recipient of the 2011 APHA Executive Director's Citation for service to the organization at the annual awards reception and ceremony on Tuesday, November 1, 2011.

PHAB appreciates APHA's continued recognition of accreditation as an important milestone in the life of governmental public health!

 

Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of APHA, stops by the PHAB booth.

PHAB staff answers questions about accreditation during the APHA Annual Meeting.

PHAB Expert Panel Meetings

Centralized States Expert Panel Completes Its Work

Building on the work of the Centralized States Think Tank, an expert panel of representatives from various types of centralized states met on November 1-2, 2011, to develop a set of recommendations concerning alterations in policies and procedures for the PHAB accreditation process and the use of the PHAB standards and measures in health departments that are in centralized states. The recommendations of the expert panel will be submitted to the PHAB Board of Directors at their December 2011 meeting for their consideration. 

 

Facilitated by Kathy Vincent, the Centralized States Expert Panel considered the unique characteristics and circumstances of state health departments that are centralized, and of local, district, and regional health departments in a centralized state. The expert panel developed recommendations that are in accordance with the relevant definitions set forth in the PHAB Acronyms and Glossary of Terms Version 1.0, the accreditation process set forth in the Guide to National Public Health Department Accreditation Version 1.0, and the PHAB Standards and Measures Version 1.0. The expert panel reviewed the steps of the accreditation process, including the application for accreditation, health department training, review of documentation and determination of conformity with standards, site visits (including site visitor training), and accreditation decisions and reports. PHAB is appreciative of the amount of detailed work they completed.

 

Centralized States Expert Panel Members.

 

Multi-Jurisdictional Applications Expert Panel Holds First Meeting

PHAB's Multi-Jurisdictional Applications Expert Panel, facilitated by Shirley Orr, met on November 9, 2011, to develop a set of recommendations concerning alterations in policies and procedures for the PHAB accreditation process and the use of the PHAB standards and measures for health departments seeking to become accredited as a multi-jurisdictional entity. The recommendations of the expert panel will be submitted to the PHAB Board of Directors for their consideration at the December 2011 Board meeting.

 

The expert panel considered the unique characteristics and circumstances of multi-jurisdictional models spanning a continuum from independent health departments performing a number of shared services or functions, along with individual health department services or functions, to health departments that have fully integrated program services serving multiple jurisdictions. The expert panel developed recommendations for process adaptations that are consistent with the relevant definitions set forth in the PHAB Acronyms and Glossary of Terms Version 1.0, the accreditation process set forth in the Guide to National Public Health Department Accreditation Version 1.0, and the PHAB Standards and Measures Version 1.0. The expert panel reviewed the steps of the accreditation process, including the application for accreditation, health department training, review of documentation and determination of conformity with standards, site visits (including site visitor training), and accreditation decisions and reports. PHAB is appreciative of the amount of detailed work they completed.

 

Multi-Jurisdictional Applications Expert Panel Members.

CDC Global Public Health Leadership Forum

Robin Wilcox, PHAB's Chief Program Officer, was a panelist with CDC's Global Health Leadership Forum on November 14, 2011, in Washington, DC. The forum participants are senior leaders in Ministries of Health from 13 different countries. CDC convened a panel of public health associations to demonstrate the importance of creating alliances among professionals and their public health functions to a strengthened health system. PHAB was able to discuss the use of standards in describing and evaluating the role of public health within the health system. We were very pleased to share our work with other counties that are working to improve their own public health infrastructures.

Word on the Street

1. We are not sure about when the fee is due and what the timing is for the various payments. Can you please clarify the process?

The sequence of payment is that, once PHAB has reviewed the application and determined that it is complete, the health department applicant will receive an invoice from PHAB. The payment of the fee is not due to PHAB until the health department receives the invoice from PHAB. The payment for that first invoice is due within 30 days. Thereafter, PHAB will invoice the health department at intervals appropriate to the payment schedule the health department selected (lump sum, annual increments, etc.).

PHAB will work with health departments to design a payment plan that meets your needs. The health department should contact Mark Paepcke, PHAB's Chief Administrative Officer, to discuss specific payment arrangements. Mark can be reached at mpaepcke@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 104.

PHAB intends to offer applicant training on a quarterly basis. Your health department will find out the date of the training for their applicant group when the application is accepted. The first fee payment has to be received by PHAB in order for the training slot to be guaranteed (since the fees are what cover the cost of that training). Health departments who are approved for the in-person training receive the specific logistics and details from PHAB at the appropriate time.

Yes. PHAB is working with its communications consultants to develop short, specific messages in a variety of formats for health departments to use in communicating with a variety of governing entities. Look for those products in early 2012!

You may contact: 

Mark Paepcke, Chief Administrative Officer, to talk about fees and contractual information. He may be reached at mpaepcke@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 104.

Robin Wilcox, Chief Program Officer, to talk about interpretation and meaning of the PHAB Standards and Measures as well as the accreditation process. She may be reached at rwilcox@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 106.

Rachel Margolis or Marita Chilton, Accreditation Specialists, to talk about the accreditation process for health departments. Rachel may be reached at rmargolis@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 108, and Marita may be reached at mchilton@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 114.

David Stone, Accreditation Education Specialist, to talk about PHAB's education services, including orientations and trainings. He may be reached at dstone@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 105.

Travis Parker Lee, Program Specialist, to talk about meetings, events, and requests for speakers.  He may be reached at tlee@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 102.

Kaye Bender, President/CEO, to talk about accreditation related strategies, partnerships, long-range planning at PHAB, PHAB Board of Directors, committees, and think tanks. She may be reached at kbender@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549, ext. 103.

If you have a suggestion for future segments of Word on the Street, please send them to Travis Parker Lee, PHAB Program Specialist, at tlee@phaboard.org.