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FAQs Why should we do this? Now more than ever, local and state public health is being challenged to meet demands in public health preparedness, emerging infectious diseases, environmental hazards and chronic disease. We are in a state of change in how we improve our performance, as well as how we measure that performance. It is critical to Who else is doing this? We are all familiar with the Joint Commission accreditation for hospitals, home care, long-term care, behavioral health, laboratories and other health care entities. And there are many others. CALEA is the national accreditation and management model for law enforcement. Fire department accreditation is a growing trend across the nation. CAPRA (Commission for Accreditation of Parks and Recreation Agencies) administers a rigorous program based on self-assessment and peer review using national standards of best practice to better promote the quality of agency services and delivery systems. There are multiple accreditation bodies for schools and universities. And the list goes on. It has become a recognized way to demonstrate value and accountability to your community. How is this different from H.B. 327, the AOHC legislation to modernize local public health? HB 327 is legislation spearheaded by the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners (AOHC) to address organization and financing of local health districts. It does not include anything about standards or accreditation. The Local Health District Improvement Standards process requires rules by the Public Health Council and concurrence by the Ohio Legislature. However this is a completely separate process from HB 327. What will the new standards be like? The committees are working with existing standards from nationally recognized sources that aren't much different from the Local Health District Improvement Standards we currently have. They include the ten essential services, NACCHO's Operational Definition of a Local Health Department, and the National Public Health Performance Standards. We are also borrowing ideas from 9 other states in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWFJ) Project. Is the Ohio Department of Health required to meet standards too? Yes. This project was funded as a partnership with the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and they too have deliverables. The grant objective for ODH is to improve their performance assessment process for the purpose of specifying state standards and increasing standard measurability and credibility. Ultimately we would like to see ODH and local health districts operate under the same set of standards. How fast is this happening? This project is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) through February 2008, however much of the work will not be completed by then. We are applying for the next round of funding to continue the project. The Local Health District Improvement Standards are under a 5-year rule review which ends in 2009. However, the rule review process will begin sometime in 2008, so we will need to be ready with our proposal. Development of a voluntary accreditation process will take a little longer, and will depend on the next grant timeline. How much will it cost? We don't know. We've had experience with time and cost involved in completing the Local Health District Improvement Standards tool currently in place. Those costs will likely continue with the new standards. As for accreditation, an additional cost should be expected. In other states with a process already in place, there is a fee to help support the accrediting body. Health Departments also dedicate additional staff time to preparing the accreditation review. How will this save me time? At first, it may not save time. We need to develop new standards and the voluntary accreditation model. We need to learn about continuous quality improvement. Once we get past the learning curve, we hope this process will better focus our limited time and resources. Isn't this a duplicate of the local public health improvement standards that we are required to do now? The goal is to replace the Local Health District Improvement Standards we are required to complete now with the new standards we develop in this project. Once the new standards are developed, they will be forwarded to the Director of the Ohio Department of Health and then on to the Public Health Council to follow the rule review process. We believe there is no benefit in having duplicate standards for local health departments. This is called a voluntary accreditation process, and yet the standards are required for state subsidy. Isn't this misleading? The Local Health District Improvement Standards are currently a requirement in the Ohio Revised Code and that is not expected to change. However, the standards will form the foundation for the accreditation process, which is voluntary. Will meetings be held to explain this? Yes. This will be on the agenda at conferences, district meetings, and anywhere that we will be welcome to talk about it. There will also be special meetings dedicated specifically to this project. We plan to reach out as much as possible to get your input and keep you informed. How do I get involved? Go to the website, www.ohiopublichealth.org to learn about the different groups working on this project. Volunteers are welcome. But you don't need to volunteer on a committee to get involved. There will be many opportunities to participate in forums, respond to surveys and give honest feedback. We'll be asking for your input in along the way, so please let us know what you think!
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Links to our member organizations' websites:
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