Collaboration Among Local Public Health Departments Preparing for Accreditation

Accreditation has been identified as a critical tool for strengthening the public health infrastructure. Yet meeting the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) Voluntary National Accreditation Standards for state and local public health agencies will be a challenge for many local public health departments. This is particularly true for small or rural jurisdictions in which the local public health agency may not have the breadth of resources to meet the full range of public health activities required by these standards. The Kansas Health Foundation believes that all residents of Kansas deserve equal levels of public health protection and access to services regardless of where they live in the state. In partnership with the Kansas Association of Local Health Departments (KALHD), the foundation has worked to explore how regional collaboration among local health departments might strengthen these departments and support their efforts to become accredited.