Genesee Orleans Health Department has until November to get all of its ducks in a row — an updated strategic plan and quality improvement projects added to some 90 percent of already completed requirements — to obtain state accreditation, Public Health Director Paul Pettit says.
Unlike other states, New York does not require its health departments to be accredited; however, Pettit and his staff have been steadily working toward that end goal as a form of best practices for the field, he said.
“It’s an optional accreditation at the moment, there has been discussion, and there are actually some states in the country that do require it. So Ohio requires all of their local health departments to be accredited. New York has looked at it, they have not made that a requirement yet, so currently, it is still optional,” Pettit said after delivering a similar message during the county’s Human Services meeting. “But we looked at this many years ago, and had discussions with the Board of Health and determined that this was a worthwhile endeavor, that, again, by gaining efficiencies and meeting certain metrics and standards, similar, like a health system or other type of agencies, it shows that you're using the public resources and dollars and making sure you're using them the best you can to deliver public health services.”
The department met around 90 to 93 percent of the requirements last year, and were told they needed just "a little bit more," Pettit said. So staff is back at it, with intentions to come back armed with more documentation and projects to resubmit for a hopeful approval in 2024.
And will this increase your opportunities for funding?
“Well, it does. I mean, so one of the things that we've really been, you know, pushing, is that, when you are accredited and you have that recognition, obviously, funders want to know, do you have systems in place? Do you have those partnerships? Are you using those resources appropriately, so when you're accredited, it basically shows that you are and that you've proven that you are, so it is something that you're starting to see more of, some grants,” he said. “Even putting that in there, are you an accredited health department, those type of things in New York State, one of the incentives, or the performance incentive funds this year, if you're accredited or working on accreditation, you're getting a little extra money, those type of things. So there are ways they're trying to encourage and or reward that process.”
There are 17 accredited health departments in New York, with the closest one being in Livingston County.
The Public Health Accreditation Board oversees the accreditation process. There are 10 essential public health services, according to the organization’s materials:
- Build and maintain a strong organizational infrastructure for public health;
- Assess and monitor population health;
- Investigate, diagnose and address health hazards and root causes;
- Communicate effectively to inform and educate;
- Strengthen, support and mobilize communities and partnerships;
- Create, champion, and implement policies, plans and laws;
- Utilize legal and regulatory actions;
- Enable equitable access;
- Build a diverse and skills workforce; and
- Improve and innovate through evaluation, research and quality improvements.
Pettit’s department plans to work on remaining projects that will be put together with an application and submitted later this year, he said, as “about 90 to 93% of all of our measures are fully or partially met, which is what you need to be able to be accredited.”
“We're resubmitting some of the documents and updating ones, and we're working on that over the next six months, and then we'll go back in for the final decision,” he said. “We have ’til November to get it all in because it gives you a year to be able to put those documents together and put it in, but we expect to have them all uploaded prior to that. So we're looking forward to hopefully a good decision probably in early fall.”
