1. Joy Harris, Accreditation Coordinator

2. Background Influence the development of the national system. Outside view of department readiness. Readiness to assist local public health departments to prepare for accreditation. Much work had been completed previously in a self assessment of the department’s ability to meet the Iowa Public Health Standards. Evidence collection completed in January – March. Request for additional information July 7, 2010. Site visit July 19-21 2010.

3. Planning Core Team Division Teams Beta Test Team Subject Matter Experts Leadership “blessing”

4. Process Access controlled shared drive Folders: Domain Standard Measure 5 pieces of evidence…or less! Screen shots of website/arrows Highlighting Explanations Upload when you know for sure!

5. Site Visit Conversation based The site visitors had done their homework! Explanation of the public health system and Iowa’s population State Board of Health and open meeting law IDPH co-workers – getting the word out!

6. Lessons Learned Point out to the site visitor exactly where you want them to look. Don’t give too much information. Watch that you have evidence dated! Really look at meeting minutes, your website, your policies, your job descriptions – is all the information a site visitor would need there? Sometimes the evidence is where you don’t expect it to be. Sometimes you have to say no. Organization, organization, organization

7. Coconino County Health Department (Northern Arizona) BACKGROUND Our Health Department’s Chief Health Officer serves on the PHAB Standards Development Workgroup and saw the value of moving our agency to a higher level of service provision. Our application was submitted in summer 2009 and a self-assessment was conducted late last winter.

8. PLANNING Accreditation Coordinator engaged Senior Managers at biweekly Senior Management Team Meetings Domains were discussed amidst the entire Senior Management Team, because we have five Service Units which cross over into multiple Domains Initiated additional weekly meetings for several months, to focus solely upon improving our self-assessment documentation

9. PROCESS Copied and pasted from the online self- assessment tool to create an “overview” document, to guide us in collecting documentation - this was duplicated on our shared drive Folders for each Domain and Measure were also created

10. SITE VISIT August 11 th -12 th, 2010

11. LESSONS LEARNED Start EARLY!! Organization and labeling are extremely important Provide context of Domains when asking for documentation of specific Measures Be mindful of using examples that are “current” and span the breadth of your agency – it’s about telling your story!

12. Public Health Accreditation Board Miami-Dade County Health Department Beta Site, 2010

13. Background Accreditation – considered logical step as part of our Continuous Improvement Tracked Accreditation Availability Lengthy discussion with Senior Leadership Submitted Application Mid to late 2009 Received notification in October Attended first meeting in Washington DC in November

14. Planning Reviewed Domains and made recommendations of “Domain Champions” Allowed Senior Leadership to accept or make their own recommendations Senior Leaders then organized their teams within their programs to tackle their corresponding standards and measures Multiple planning meetings with Senior Leaders and critical staff

15. Process Multiple resources available – Websites, portals, etc. Modified Standards and Measures Document as well as Interpretation Guide to breakdown responsibilities Developed Shared Folders on a Common Server and created Instruction (i.e. Naming convention to follow Recommended one on one meetings with Champion to assist, provide guidance, etc. State Office visited our Health Department and provided guidance (more advanced in process) Self Assessment tool is just one component

16. Site Visit Three day visit – Team of Four Team composed of Public Health Officials from other Health Departments nationally Multiple observers (NACCHO, CDC, PHAB, NORC) 3 days is not enough to go through all the domains Site Team was supportive and friendly, yet followed rules. Confirmed we are on the right track, still room to be more prepared

17. Lessons Learned Use your time wisely Review documents before being submitted ◦Important to date everything! ◦Important to sign everything! ◦Stick to official documents when possible At first, feels overwhelming – it really isn’t Apply only if you are able to have evidence for everything Use the State Health Office 100% Support and Engagement is key Involve staff