ACCREDITATION

Jessamine County Health Department Maintains National Accreditation Status through the Public Health Accreditation Board

On August 1, 2022, the JCHD successfully completed a review process to maintain national accreditation status through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). The nonprofit PHAB works to advance and transform public health practice by championing performance improvement, strong infrastructure, and innovation. In maintaining our accreditation status for another five years, the JCHD has demonstrated that we meet PHAB’s quality standards and measures and have the capacity to continue to evolve, improve, and advance, thereby becoming increasingly effective at improving the health of the residents of Jessamine County.

The JCHD achieved national initial accreditation status through PHAB on March 14, 2017, after undergoing a rigorous, multi-faceted, peer-reviewed assessment process to ensure we met a set of quality standards and measures. We were the 11th Accredited Health Department in Kentucky and one of 178 accredited health departments across the nation (there are ~3,000 state, local, and tribal health departments total) to receive such status.

What is Public Health Department Accreditation?

• The measurement of health department performance against a set of nationally recognized, practice-focused and evidenced-based standards.
• The issuance of recognition of achievement of accreditation within a specified time frame by a nationally recognized entity.
• The continual development, revision, and distribution of public health standards.

The goal of the voluntary national accreditation program is to improve and protect the health of the public by advancing the quality and performance of Tribal, state, local, and territorial public health departments.

PHAB’s public health department accreditation process seeks to advance quality and performance within public health departments. Accreditation standards define the expectations for all public health departments that seek to become accredited. National public health department accreditation has been developed because of the desire to improve service, value, and accountability to stakeholders.