Strengthening the Nation's Public Health System through a National Voluntary Accreditation Program for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Health Departments

This project will support the operations and continuous improvement of a national accreditation program for state, tribal, local and territorial public health departments. This program will result in increased visibility for accreditation, a stronger public health accreditation program, increased demonstration of accountability of public health programs to decision makers and to the public, increased adoption of evidence based practices, increased use of quality improvement, improved capacity for state, tribal, local and territorial health departments to meet nationally established accreditation standards, and increased recognition of public health roles and value by leaders and the public. Specific objectives may/will include but are not limited to: 1. Support communications and education regarding the accreditation program. 2. Establish a process of continuous improvement of the accreditation standards, tools, and processes to ensure a relevant, current and smoothly functioning program (all elements of the current program can be found at www.phaboard.org). 3. Strengthen strategic partnerships to support accreditation. 4. Strengthen the evidence base for accreditation.