Accreditation is currently a voluntary process and applies only to the Public Health Unit of the Essex County Health Department.
WHAT IS IT? Accreditation is the recognition of achievement by a national entity (the Public Health Accreditation Board) against a set of practice-focused and evidenced-based standards.
WHY DO IT? The process of being accredited and maintaining this status ensures our performance –
WHAT’S THE PROCESS? The process of becoming accredited includes 8 phases and is cyclical. Once we achieve Accreditation, we need to continuously work to maintain this status.
MUST HAVE ADOPTED (done!)
MUST HAVE IN PLACE OR SUBSTANTIALLY DEVELOPED (done!)
COMPLETE APPLICANT TRAINING & SUBMIT FEES (done August 2017!)
MUST PROVIDE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION/EVIDENCE of practices that meet standards in 12 Domains & submit to the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). (done August 14, 2018)
PHAB REPRESENTATIVES CONDUCT A SITE VISIT to review documents in person, ask questions and create a report of the site visit assessment. (done April 3 & 4, 2019)
PHAB ACCREDITATION COMMITTEE MAKES A DETERMINATION of Accreditation status based on the Site Visit assessment report. (pending)
MUST SUBMIT ANNUAL REPORTS TO PHAB FOR REVIEW.
ACCREDITATION IS MAINTAINED FOR 5 YEARS. After this time the Department must re-apply and go through this process again.