On March 15, 2016, the Florida Department of Health received first-in-the-nation national accreditation as an integrated department of health through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). This seal of accreditation signifies the unified Florida Department of Health, including the state health office and all 67 county health departments, has been rigorously examined and meets or exceeds national standards for public health performance management and continuous quality improvement.
The national accreditation program, jointly supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sets standards against which the nation’s more than 3,000 governmental public health departments can continuously improve the quality of their services and performance.
To receive accreditation, a health department must undergo a rigorous, multi-faceted, peer-reviewed assessment process to ensure it meets or exceeds a set of quality standards and measures.
Public health departments play a crucial role in protecting and improving the health of people and communities. In cities, towns and states across the nation, health departments provide a range of services aimed at promoting healthy behaviors; preventing diseases and injuries; ensuring access to safe food, water, clean air and life-saving immunizations; and preparing for and responding to public health emergencies.
The Department’s ability to keep communities ahead of emerging health threats while promoting best practices to meet ongoing health challenges has been enhanced through the process of achieving and maintaining public health accreditation. Meeting the standards and measures necessary to attain PHAB accreditation helps to ensure the Department’s success in achieving its mission to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida.
To maintain accreditation, health departments must reapply every five years. Where initial accreditation demonstrated that the Department has the capacities required to provide the ten Essential Public Health Services, reaccreditation focuses on the use of those capacities and accountability, as well as on continuous quality improvement. The reaccreditation Standards and Measures assess the health departments’ improvements and advancements. Therefore, reaccreditation requires the health department provides narrative descriptions of the Department’s work in the areas of the twelve PHAB Domains. Health departments are asked to tell the “story” of how they function and operate from a department-wide perspective.
The Department is currently in the process of achieving reaccreditation status as an integrated department of health.
Florida Department Of Health’s Vital Statistics Nationally Accredited
On May 14, 2021 the Public Health Accreditation Board announced national accreditation status for the Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Vital Statistics as a nationally accredited Vital Records and Health Statistics (VRHS) unit for the next five years through its VRHS Accreditation program.
The VRHS national accreditation program, which receives support from the National Center for Health Statistics, sets standards against which the nation’s governmental VRHS units can continuously improve the quality of their services and performance.
Vital records and health statistics are essential to public health services and help to inform many public health programs that serve our communities. The program was developed with support and input from VRHS professionals from across the country and the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems.