Regional Public Health Structures and Readiness for Accreditation and QI

Year: 2011
Funding: Research Acceleration & Capacity Expansion Supplement (RACE)
Status: Completed

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Overview

The Nebraska PBRN makes use of the state’s recently developed regional public health structure to assess and compare readiness for accreditation among regional health departments and single-county health departments within the state, and to examine the utility of quality improvement (QI) strategies implemented by health departments in preparing for accreditation. The study analyzes self-assessed performance data collected from all local health departments through the state’s Local Health Department Standards and Measures tool. Combining these data with the newly released PHAB accreditation standards, the study examines performance variation across agencies and estimates agency readiness for the PHAB accreditation process, with a specific focus on differences in readiness between regional and single-county agencies. Additionally, the study links performance data with newly collected data from an ongoing study of local health department engagement in QI strategies (a PBRN Quick Strike study) to examine the extent to which agencies are implementing QI activities in areas where gaps in performance exist. Site visit interviews in selected regional health department sites explore the relationship between QI implementation and readiness for accreditation in regional health departments. Findings will provide useful insight into the implementation of QI and accreditation initiatives for public health agencies nationwide.

Publications

Presentations

Research Areas

Contact

David Palm, Ph.D.
david.palm@nebraska.gov  

Li Wu Chen, Ph.D.
liwuchen@uncmc.edu