CDC/NACCHO Accreditation Support Initiative: advancing readiness for local and tribal health department accreditation.

CONTEXT: Health departments have various unique needs that must be addressed in preparing for national accreditation. These needs require time and resources, shortages that many health departments face. OBJECTIVE: The Accreditation Support Initiative's goal was to test the assumption that even small amounts of dedicated funding can help health departments make important progress in their readiness to apply for and achieve accreditation. DESIGN: Participating sites' scopes of work were unique to the needs of each site and based on the proposed activities outlined in their applications. Deliverables and various sources of data were collected from sites throughout the project period (December 2011-May 2012). SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Awardees included 1 tribal and 12 local health departments, as well as 5 organizations supporting the readiness of local and tribal health departments. RESULTS: Sites dedicated their funding toward staff time, accreditation fees, completion of documentation, and other accreditation readiness needs and produced a number of deliverables and example documents. All sites indicated that they made accreditation readiness gains that would not have occurred without this funding. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary evaluation data from the first year of the Accreditation Support Initiative indicate that flexible funding arrangements may be an effective way to increase health departments' accreditation readiness.

A study of incentives to support and promote public health accreditation.

CONTEXT: Accreditation of public health agencies through the Public Health Accreditation Board is voluntary. Incentives that encourage agencies to apply for accreditation have been suggested as important factors in facilitating participation by state and local agencies. OBJECTIVE: The project describes both current and potential incentives that are available at the federal, state, and local levels. DESIGN: Thirty-nine key informants from local, state, tribal, federal, and academic settings were interviewed from March through May 2012. Through open-ended interviews, respondents were asked about incentives that were currently in use in their settings and incentives they thought would help encourage participation in Public Health Accreditation Board accreditation. RESULTS: Incentives currently in use by public health agencies based on interviews include (1) financial support, (2) legal mandates, (3) technical assistance, (4) peer support workgroups, and (5) state agencies serving as role models by seeking accreditation themselves. Key informants noted that state agencies are playing valuable and diverse roles in providing incentives for accreditation within their own states. Key informants also identified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other players, such as private foundations, public health institutes, national and state associations, and academia as providing both technical and financial assistance to support accreditation efforts. CONCLUSIONS: State, tribal, local, and federal agencies, as well as related organizations can play an important role by providing incentives to move agencies toward accreditation.