Preparing for Public Health Department Accreditation?

Health departments seeking accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) have a new tool to help them. A Crosswalk between Recommendations from The Community Guide and Health Department Accreditation Standards of the Public Health Accreditation Board (Crosswalk) matches PHAB domains, standards, and measures with related evidence-based recommendations in The Community Guide. Review the Crosswalk to see what it can do for your agency, and revisit it periodically to stay informed of updates.

Why is the crosswalk important?

• The PHAB Standards and Measures document encourages and sometimes requires use of evidence-based programs, services, and policies to improve public health. The Crosswalk shows connections between The Community Preventive Services Task Force evidence-based recommendations in The Community Guide and PHAB measures that could result in required documentation to help meet those PHAB measures.
• The Crosswalk can help health departments save time during the accreditation process. Accreditation preparation and program staff can use it to see how evidence-based interventions they may already be doing may help meet specific PHAB measures.

What makes the crosswalk credible?

The Crosswalk was developed collaboratively by the following groups:

• National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, specifically the Community Guide Branch, and the Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support.

What does the crosswalk include?

The Crosswalk consists of two tables with instructions for use.

• Table 1 cross-references PHAB domains, standards, and measures with related interventions from The Community Guide that could help provide documentation for accreditation.
• Table 2 may help accreditation preparation staff to engage with program staff that may be unfamiliar with PHAB. The table is searchable by Community Guide topic area, identifying the PHAB measures that relate to each of the evidence-based interventions within the Community Guide topic.

What’s important to consider when using the crosswalk?

Health departments will not necessarily fulfill PHAB documentation requirements by just selecting one or two Community Guide interventions from the Crosswalk. Preparing for accreditation should involve identifying documentation that best

• Reflects what your health department is actually doing its capacities, processes, programs, and policies to implement the 10 Essential Public Health Services, and
• Demonstrates conformity with the PHAB standards and measures.

References

Public Health Accreditation Board. Standards and Measures, Version 1.0. May 2011. http://www.phaboard.org/wp-content/uploads/PHAB-Standards-and-Measures-Version-1.0.pdf. Accessed August 30, 2013.