Twentieth Anniversary Issue of the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice Focuses on Public Health Department Accreditation
Alexandria, VA (PRWEB) December 10, 2013 -- The Journal of Public Health Management and Practice (JPHMP) today marked its 20th anniversary with the advanced online release of a special issue highlighting public health department accreditation. Titled “Transforming Public Health Practice Through Accreditation,” the anniversary issue is coordinated by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The special issue of JPHMP highlights the emerging evidence base around public health department accreditation through research studies, commentaries, and case reports. Thanks in part to funding from CDC’s Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support, the online edition of the special January/February 2014 issue is being offered with free access — in advance of the print edition — on the journal’s Web site at http://www.jphmp.com.
“This 20th anniversary issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice on ‘Transforming Public Health Practice Through Accreditation’ embodies our mission of disseminating the latest developments in public health practice,” said JPHMP Editor-in-Chief Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH. “Embarking on accreditation of public health agencies is a momentous advance in improving the health of the public. Its importance parallels progress now occurring in health reform,” said Novick, Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Health at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine.
The special issue features 40 accreditation-related articles, including research studies on state health improvement planning, the evaluation of CDC’s National Public Health Improvement Initiative, quality improvement culture, and laws and incentives related to accreditation. Other articles describe the connections between PHAB and well-established public health and quality improvement models, including the National Public Health Performance Standards, The Guide to Community Preventive Services, the Malcolm Baldrige Award for Excellence, and CDC’s public health preparedness capabilities. Commentaries discuss such topics as accreditation in tribal settings, quality improvement, the role of governance in accreditation, PHAB standards related to the workforce, and cross-jurisdictional approaches to achieving accreditation. To provide the perspective of practitioners, the issue includes case reports from 11 health departments highlighting their experiences preparing for accreditation.
“The case reports allow health departments to share accomplishments and lessons learned as they have pursued accreditation,” said Jessica Kronstadt, MPP, PHAB’s Director of Research and Evaluation. “The breadth of articles in this issue demonstrates the strong link between public health accreditation and research. The issue also underscores accreditation’s important role in advancing quality improvement,” said Kronstadt, who served as a guest editor of the special 20th anniversary issue.
Other guest editors of the journal’s 20th anniversary issue include PHAB Board of Directors Vice Chair Les Beitsch, MD, JD, Chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine at Florida State University College of Medicine; Liza Corso, MPA, Senior Advisor for Public Health Practice and Accreditation in the Division of Public Health Performance Improvement at CDC's Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support; Mary Davis, DrPH, MSPH, Senior Investigator, North Carolina Institute for Public Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Brenda Joly, PhD, MPH, Associate Research Professor, Master of Public Health Program, Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine; and William Riley, PhD, Director of the School for the Science of Health Care Delivery at Arizona State University.
“National accreditation has indeed arrived — and what an honor it is to be showcased as the 20th anniversary issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, which itself has served as a catalyst to transform public health practice,” Beitsch said. “With more than 240 health departments in the application process nationally, the contents of this issue represent an important step toward establishing a stronger evidence base for the national accreditation program.”
For more information, contact Teddi Nicolaus at (703) 778-4549 ext. 118, or e-mail tnicolaus(at)phaboard.org. Learn more about PHAB and accreditation at http://www.phaboard.org.
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About the Public Health Accreditation Board
The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) was created to serve as the national public health accrediting body and is jointly funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The development of national public health accreditation has involved, and is supported by, public health leaders and practitioners from the national, tribal, state, local, and territorial levels. Learn more about PHAB or sign up for the PHAB e-newsletter by visiting http://www.phaboard.org.
Teddi Nicolaus, Public Health Accreditation Board, http://www.phaboard.org, (703) 778-4549 Ext: 118, [email protected]
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