The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department plans to apply for voluntary public health accreditation in November 2012.
Accreditation will better protect and improve the health of Lawrence and Douglas County residents by advancing the quality and performance of the public health department that serves them.
To become accredited, the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department is following national standards that require provision and documentation of what the agency offers in services and activities. Program performance measures are already in place and are reviewed by the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Board each quarter.
To learn more about performance measures and to see past scorecards, click here >>
A goal of public health accreditation is to promote high performance and continuous quality improvement. This concept is incorporated into the accreditation standards and measures. These standards address the wide variety of functions that public health serves, which are exemplified by the 10 Essential Public Health Services (see below). The Health Department's 2010 Annual Report provides a look at the year in review with the services serving as the framework.
The 10 essential services
ACCREDITATION key dates:
November 2012- Accreditation application planned for submission.
Spring 2012- Informant interviews scheduled with health and non-profit leaders and policymakers.
January- February 2012- Focus groups in area communities begin; concerns survey available to the public at: healthylawrence.org
December 2011- Local public health assessment completed with community partners.
Click here to view the assessment results in their raw form (a new version will be posted soon) >>
September 2011- Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department Strategic Plan released.
May 2011-
Public Health Accreditation Board Accreditation Standards released.
January 2011- Building Toward Accreditation: Issues to Consider Along the Way, click here for more >>
February 2009- Public Health Accreditation Board releases Draft Accreditation Standards, click here for more >>
November 2008- A community forum was held in November 2008, which included citizens and community partners who provided their input
on the Health Department's future direction.
Click here to see the questions they were asked and their responses >>
April 2008-
The Health Department's program managers completed a self-assessment, which allowed the agency to measure itself against NACCHO’s Operational Definition of a Functional Health Department and to identify strengths and areas where improvement is needed.
To see the Self-Assessment Final Evaluation results, click here.
accreditation news:
10/24/11 - Kansas Health Institute — Kansas health departments moving to meet national standards
3/24/11 - CDC press release — New Accreditation Opportunity for State, Local, Tribal Health Departments
8/20/09 - Health Department honored for excellence in public health
1/29/09 - Health Department receives quality improvement grant
5/12/08 - Health Department begins journey to national accreditation
10/8/08 - Health Department seeks public response in online survey
11/18/08 - Health Department to host community forum
LINKS:
Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB)
NACCHO
CDC
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
