Advising states and communities on laws and obligations relevant to accreditation for local health departments

This project will review existing state laws or other obligations related to development and implementation of community health assessments, community health improvement plans and strategic plans for public health agencies, the three prerequisites for applying for health department accreditation. A recent survey found that fewer than half of local public health agencies have at least two of these requirements in place. Identifying and understanding current laws and policies relevant to planning for accreditation will immediately benefit these local agencies. To prepare for health department accreditation in 2011, local and state health departments must understand applicable laws and policies and determine if they facilitate or obstruct accreditation efforts. Deliverables will include a searchable inventory of laws and policies for the three accreditation prerequisites in all 50 states, as well as an inventory of any state laws directly related to public-health-agency accreditation (both inventories complement current work funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation), and qualitative interviews to gather in-depth information about the enforcement and impact of these laws and policies as they relate to accreditation. The comprehensive public-use dataset of public health laws will be included in the Foundation's Health and Medical Care Archive.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $150,000.00

Awarded on: 2/15/2011

Time frame: 2/15/2011 - 4/30/2012

Grant Number: 68705