Public health departments around the country are now seeking a new stamp of approval for their services: national accreditation status.

The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) recently awarded accreditation status to state, tribal, local and territorial health departments across the U.S. The national program, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), aims to advance the quality and performance of the nation's public health departments.

On March 4, the board announced the first 11 health departments to achieve five-year accreditation status. The group includes state and local health departments in Oklahoma, Kentucky, New York, Washington, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

"Just as schools, hospitals and law enforcement agencies do, health departments can use the accreditation process to improve services and better protect health," said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., in a PHAB news release. "We look forward to the day when most people in this country are served by accredited health departments."

Public health departments are on the front line of health protection and promotion in communities across the U.S. They provide a broad range of essential functions, including preventing diseases and injuries; ensuring the safety of food, water and air; ensuring access to life-saving immunizations; and preparing for and responding to health emergencies and disasters.

By outlining a specific set of standards, PHAB said the accreditation process will help ensure the quality of these programs and that departments are as responsive as possible to the needs of the communities they serve.

To receive accreditation, a health department must undergo a "rigorous, multi-faceted, peer-reviewed assessment process to ensure that it meets or exceeds a specific set of quality standards and measures," according to the PHAB news release. 

James Howgate, chief of staff of the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH), said the department fully supports the county and district health departments that plan to seek accreditation. Since DPH itself is still relatively new, Howgate said department leaders' current focus is on making DPH ready for the accreditation process.

"We're using accreditation as a lens for our own development because most of the things accreditation requires are the kinds of things that public health departments should be doing in some form or fashion anyway," he said.

Achieving accreditation would provide a way to bring continuous quality improvement to DPH and its programs, Howgate added.