Accreditation

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 –

• Efficiency—Do more with less
• Effectiveness—Improve outcomes
• Accountability—Improve communication & transparency with governing bodies, funding sources, community partners & other stakeholders
• PLUS – it improves our competitiveness for outside funding AND ensures our continuous quality improvement!

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.

More About Each Phase

1. Pre-Requisites

MUST HAVE ADOPTED (done!)

• Community Health Assessment
• Community Health Improvement Plan
• Department Strategic Plan

2. Pre-Application

MUST HAVE IN PLACE OR SUBSTANTIALLY DEVELOPED (done!)

• Quality Improvement Plan
• Performance Management Policy/System
• Branding Strategy
• Workforce Development Plan
• Emergency Operations Plan (Continuity of Operations Plan)

3. Application

COMPLETE APPLICANT TRAINING & SUBMIT FEES (done August 2017!)

4. Document Selection & Submission

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) 

 5. Site Visit

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)

6. Determination

PHAB ACCREDITATION COMMITTEE MAKES A DETERMINATION of Accreditation status based on the Site Visit assessment report. (pending)

7.  Reports

MUST SUBMIT ANNUAL REPORTS TO PHAB FOR REVIEW.

8. Re-Accreditation

ACCREDITATION IS MAINTAINED FOR 5 YEARS.  After this time the Department must re-apply and go through this process again.