Kanawha-Charleston Health Department has received accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). KCHD is the first local health department in West Virginia to receive accreditation by PHAB and among the first 200 health departments of roughly 2,800 local, state, territorial and tribal health departments in the United States to receive such recognition.
PHAB is the not-for-profit, non-governmental organization that administers the national public health accreditation program. It aims to improve and protect the health of the public by advancing and ultimately transforming the quality and performance of the nation’s public health departments. PHAB sets standards to which public health departments can continuously work to improve the quality of their services and performance. Hundreds of health departments across the country are preparing to seek accreditation.
According to Brenda Isaac, RN, president of the Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health, “Accreditation demonstrates accountability and credibility to all with whom the health department collaborates — clients, community members, elected officials, funding sources and partner organizations.”
Dr. Michael Brumage, health officer and executive director, said accreditation “means the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department has been rigorously examined and meets or exceeds national standards that promote continuous quality improvement for public health.”
The national accreditation program, jointly supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, worked collaboratively for 10 years with local health departments to set standards against which the nation’s health departments can continuously improve the quality of their services and performance. To receive accreditation, KCHD underwent a rigorous, multi-faceted, peer-reviewed assessment process.
KCHD officials have spent four years working through the accreditation process, which covers 12 broad areas or “domains.” KCHD electronically submitted thousands of documents to PHAB, had a site visit and worked for the past nine months to address areas of improvement noted by the PHAB Board. The five-year accreditation became official at a November 15th PHAB board of directors meeting.