Health Department Prepares for Accreditation
In 2002, the North Carolina Division of Public Health and the North Carolina Association of Local Health Directors undertook an initiative to develop a mandatory, standards-based system for accrediting local public health departments through-out the state. The focus of North Carolina’s Local Health Department Accreditation is on the capacity of the local health department to perform at a prescribed, basic level of quality the three core functions of assessment, assurance, and policy development and the ten essential services.
The program focuses on a set of minimal standards that must be provided to ensure the protection of the health of the public, but does not limit the services or activities an agency may provide to address specific local needs. The program has three components:
– An agency self-assessment, which includes 41 benchmarks and 148 activities;
– A three-day site visit by a multidisciplinary team of peer volunteers; and
– Determination of accreditation status by the North Carolina Local Health Department Accreditation Board.
Accreditation is achieved by appropriately meeting a set of benchmarks either by direct provision or assurance of required services and activities.
The Madison County Health Department is due for reaccreditation in 2018.
For more information , contact:
Heather Sharp, Health Promotions Coordinator, Accreditation
Coordinator
Madison County Health Department, 493 Medical Park Drive, Marshall, NC 28753
Phone (828) 649-3531 x 232 Fax (828) 649-9078