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Greetings from PHAB,
As 2012 comes to a close, we are reflecting on the wonderful support that we have received from volunteer site visitors, think tank participants and work group members. We are also very fortunate to have outstanding leadership from our board of directors. PHAB is gratified by the large number of health departments that are working with us through the accreditation process. We know that there are many more health departments preparing to apply for accreditation. All of the individuals, health departments, and our partner organizations, have helped public health accreditation at the national level become a reality. Thank you!
PHAB has a continuing need for volunteers to serve as peer reviewers. We have issued a call for applications. Please consider this opportunity to work with PHAB and with peer health department colleagues as we seek ways to improve public health.
In this newsletter, you will read about the issues that the PHAB Board of Directors addressed during its November meeting. In our ongoing effort to spotlight the excellent work of our partners, we have included new information from the National Network of Public Health Institutes. Also, be sure to check out the Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange website at www.phqix.org.
Please help me welcome our newest PHAB team member, Volunteer Services Manager Jeff Lake. It will be Jeff's job to make sure that all of our site visitors and other volunteers get the support from PHAB that they need to get their jobs done. We are so pleased to have Jeff on board.
As we approach the New Year, we hope you will celebrate the accomplishments that we have made individually and collectively to contribute to a healthier nation. We look forward to working with you in the coming year as we continue those efforts and as we award accreditation to health departments!
Let us hear from you if you have questions or suggestions for improvement.
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Kaye Bender, PhD, RN, FAAN
President and CEO
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PHAB IN ACTION
Call for New PHAB Site Visitors
The Public Health Accreditation Board announces a call for volunteer Site Visitors for the 2013-2014 review cycles. To be considered, an individual must have at least five years of professional experience in a Tribal, state, local, or territorial health department; have other management or leadership experience; and have a baccalaureate or higher degree. If you are eligible, please consider being a part of the exciting public health accreditation effort by volunteering to work with PHAB as a Site Visitor. All travel expenses for training and for the site visit are paid by PHAB. The application and its instructions can be accessed online by clicking here. Applications should be submitted to sitevisitorapplication2013@phaboard.org.
Jeff Lake Joins PHAB Team
 Jeff Lake will join PHAB's growing team on January 1 as Volunteer Services Manager. In his new role, Jeff will add to PHAB's capacity to support a growing number of volunteers through coordinating the recruitment, selection, and assignment of Site Visitors and Teams. He will also work with PHAB to establish a Reserve Corps of Accreditation Specialists as the number of health departments applying for accreditation continues to grow. Jeff brings significant public health practice and accreditation experience to PHAB. He recently retired from a three-decade career with the Virginia Department of Health, where he spent the last 16 years as a Senior Deputy in charge of Virginia's statewide local public health system. Jeff has worked actively for many years with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), serving in a variety of leadership positions. An active participant in accreditation during the early phase of the Exploring Accreditation project, he served on several think tanks and work groups, and also chaired State Site Visit Teams during PHAB's Beta Test and most recently this fall. He also performed contract and part-time work for PHAB in 2012. Jeff holds a master's degree from North Carolina State University, with a concentration in demography and a minor in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health in Chapel Hill.
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PROGRAM NOTES: PHAB Program Updates
Highlights from the November 28-29 PHAB Board of Directors Meeting
The PHAB Board of Directors met on November 28-29 in Phoenix. Several items of business were conducted. PHAB is pleased to report that the following board members were reappointed to three-year terms: Les Beitsch, Edward Harrison, Alonzo Plough, William Riley, and Harvey Wallace. Re-elected Board officers were Carol Moehrle, Chair; Les Beitsch, Vice Chair; and Edward Harrison, Secretary/Treasurer. We look forward to continued progress under this outstanding leadership.
Among the other items that the PHAB Board of Directors addressed were:
- Site Visits of health departments are being conducted and Site Visit Reports are being developed for the Accreditation Committee to review. At the November meeting, members of the Accreditation Committee worked through case studies to prepare for their work in reviewing the Site Visit Reports and making accreditation decisions. PHAB expects to make the first national public health accreditation decisions in February 2013.
- The current PHAB Standards and Measures, Version 1.0 are in effect through June 30, 2014. Health departments that apply until that date will be reviewed under the current version. A process for revisions of the current standards and measures has been approved and will begin in early 2013. Proposed revisions will be publicly vetted in the spring of 2013, with a plan to have them adopted and published by January 2014, for an effective date of July 1, 2014. The new version will be used to review health departments that apply from July 1, 2014 forward, until a third version is established. The revision process includes gathering suggestions from the field. Please email Robin Wilcox, rwilcox@phaboard.org, with suggested changes, additions, or deletions to the Standards and Measures, Version 1.0. Also included in the process to revise the Standards and Measures are think tanks on several program and topic areas in public health, expert panels, PHAB's evaluation information, changes in the evidence base for public health, and information from the current Site Visits and questions that PHAB has received about specific measures.
- PHAB received a clean fiscal audit and a solid non-profit business assessment this year. PHAB is a stable, credibly operated organization.
- PHAB will make some changes in its Research and Evaluation committee structure to include a quality improvement component. More details on this will be provided in future newsletters.
- PHAB continues to clarify how its accreditation process works in various health department organizational structures. The PHAB Board of Directors addressed some issues related to the accreditation of centralized health departments. For information, email Robin Wilcox at rwilcox@phaboard.org.
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PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI)
Vincent Lafronza to lead NNPHI
Vincent Lafronza, EdD, MS, in January will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer of the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI).
A public health professional since 1985, Lafronza has worked in the fields of gerontology; behavioral health; community environmental health intervention; and public health systems development in communities, states, and American Indian and Alaska Native nations.
Lafronza previously held a 10-year appointment with the National Association of County and City Health Officials, where he served as Program Director for the Turning Point National Program Office. Prior to that, he served at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, where he provided technical assistance to communities affected by hazardous waste.
In addition to earning advanced degrees in adult education and science, Lafronza completed an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Engineering Postgraduate Research Fellowship in Public Health as well as two Salzburg Fellowships focused on the social and economic determinants of public health.
Created in 2001, NNPHI's mission is to support national public health system initiatives and strengthen public health institutes to promote multi-sector activities resulting in measurable improvements of public health structures, systems, and outcomes. Learn more about NNPHI and its member institutes at www.nnphi.org.
New Quality Improvement Website Launches
Public health professionals who wish to share information about quality improvement initiatives can add a new online resource to their toolkits. The Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange is a free, publicly available communication platform dedicated to enhancing the performance, effectiveness, and efficiency of public health systems by making public health quality improvement information easily accessible to public health practitioners.
Launched in September, the new platform houses descriptions of the expanding number of public health quality improvement efforts in a standardized format. Created by RTI International with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the website provides real-world examples relevant to current and planned quality improvement work. Public health professionals can use the website to submit their own quality improvement initiatives or search for interventions that might be relevant to their communities.
To encourage interaction and collaboration between public health professionals, the website - designed by representatives from Tribal, state, and local health departments - includes a community forum for dialogue among the site's users. For example, users can submit comments and questions about quality improvement initiatives, or take advantage of an "Ask an Expert" feature in which quality improvement experts weigh in on their questions.
"We expect this new online resource to be a dynamic destination for health departments and their partners to learn and share best practices for quality improvement," Pamela Russo, Senior Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said in a statement announcing the platform's launch.
"Throughout the design process, we were deeply engaged with the public health practice community," said Project Director Jamie Pina, a Research Scientist at RTI International. "The features of the site reflect the input of public health practitioners at every step."
For more information, email Project Director Jamie Pina at pina@rti.org; or Communication Lead Cindy Throop at cthroop@rti.org. For more information about the Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange, visit www.phqix.org.
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WORD ON THE STREET: A Round Up of Accreditation Questions and Answers
1. I have just been assigned to be my health department's Accreditation Coordinator. How important is it that we form a health department Accreditation Team? Can I fulfill my responsibilities without an Accreditation Team?
Achieving accreditation requires the knowledge, skills, experience, and perspectives of a number of health department staff and stakeholders working together. The health department's establishment of an Accreditation Team is strongly recommended by PHAB. Seeking accreditation is a quality improvement process from which the department will benefit most if many staff are involved. The Accreditation Team will assist the Accreditation Coordinator by helping to identify documentation as well as by assisting with the Site Visit. The team can help identify documentation from a variety of public health programs and help the Accreditation Coordinator "spread the word" across the department about seeking accreditation. PHAB has observed that health departments that have a team working on accreditation manage the process more effectively and have a less stressed Accreditation Coordinator. We recommend that you download the PHAB Accreditation Coordinator Handbook from the PHAB website. The information that it contains will help you prepare for this exciting journey.
2. We are planning our budget for 2013-2014 and we plan to apply for accreditation in 2014. When will the 2014 fee schedule be published?
The 2014 fee schedule is being developed now, and PHAB expects to publish it by the end of January 2013.
3. We are a small health department that works closely with two neighboring health departments. We are considering submitting a joint application for accreditation. What guidance do you have for us as we begin that process?
For multi-jurisdictional applications, the partnering health departments, which could be two or more health departments, will apply as a single entity. The partnering health departments must select one lead health department to apply on behalf of all the partners. The partnering health departments must submit a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or similar documentation describing in detail the multi-department relationship. The relationship must be that of the health departments working together to deliver services and/or perform functions over the combined jurisdiction. It cannot be simply an "of convenience" or paper-only relationship to apply for accreditation; the business and working relationship of multi-jurisdictional applicants must be well established and well defined. A high degree of interdependence in carrying out the ten Essential Public Health Services must be demonstrated, and joint work in at least half of the domains must be demonstrated. However, once documentation for a measure has been assessed as met for one health department in the application, it has been met for all other health departments in the application that submit the same documentation. We suggest that you contact Robin Wilcox, rwilcox@phaboard.org, to discuss your particular situation before you complete your plans.
4. Who at PHAB should we contact for specific questions and technical assistance?
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, Jennifer Jimenez, Brittan Wood 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; Jennifer at jjimenez@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 107; Brittan at bwood@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 115; and Marita at mchilton@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 114.
Jeff Lake, Volunteer Services Manager, to talk about the recruitment, selection, and assignment of Site Visitors and Teams as well as PHAB's Reserve Corps of Accreditation Specialists. He may be reached at jlake@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 110.
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.
Jessica Kronstadt, Director of Research and Evaluation, to talk about public health accreditation-related research and evaluation. She may be reached at jkronstadt@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 117.
Teddi Nicolaus, Communications Manager, to talk about accreditation-related news, media requests, and story ideas. She may be reached at tnicolaus@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 118.
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.
Genny Lush, Office Manager, to talk about general office inquiries. She may be reached at glush@phaboard.org or 703-778-4549 ext. 100.
If you have a suggestion for future segments of Word on the Street, please send them to Teddi Nicolaus
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