Alaska Division of Public Health’s Accreditation Success
A Journey of Determination and Collaboration
August 19, 2024 | Marta McMillion, Sara Bell
Preparation for accreditation involves several key steps for public health departments, including applying for consideration, collecting and organizing documentation demonstrating compliance with PHAB standards, and hosting PHAB site visitors during an onsite visit.
Throughout their preparation process, the accreditation team for Alaska DPH focused on communicating about accreditation with staff and leadership; however, despite their best efforts, Alaska DPH experienced significantly less capacity to focus on accreditation processes during the COVID-19 response. Several staff changes further challenged planning for accreditation activities, yet the agency demonstrated remarkable perseverance in achieving its goals.
PHIG Supports Accreditation Preparation
During the final stages of accreditation preparation, Alaska DPH leveraged an ongoing relationship with ASTHO and new Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) funding to overcome final hurdles and successfully push to the finish line. The following are highlights of some of the ASTHO support and PHIG resources that were particularly valuable for Alaska DPH.
Peer Connections
Peer exchanges played a crucial role in enhancing the readiness of Alaska DPH. The exchanges provided actionable advice and resources, enabling the team to learn from the experience of other states that had recently completed the public health accreditation process. For example, the accreditation team from Alaska DPH was able to meet with and share resources and ideas with both the North Carolina Division of Public Health and the Kentucky Department of Public Health. These agencies gave Alaska DPH practical tips, such as creating a comprehensive virtual tour of their many division buildings using a PowerPoint presentation instead of trying to facilitate tours of multiple locations, which significantly enhanced their preparation for the accreditation process.
Mock Site Visit
Because an onsite visit is a key part of the accreditation process, a mock site visit—including documentation review, practice interviews, and a facility tour—is a tool that allows the department to refine its preparation and address any last-minute issues. This provides a realistic preview of the actual site visit, instilling confidence and boosting employee buy-in and momentum across the division.
Four weeks before the actual site visit, ASTHO conducted a mock site visit with twenty-eight Alaska DPH representatives from all seven agency sections. This exercise boosted the team's confidence and readiness to host the PHAB site visitors and energized the entire division. Employee engagement and enthusiasm surged, significantly contributing to the final push toward successful accreditation.
The mock site visit was a valuable part of our preparation for the actual PHAB site visit. It gave us a chance to experience firsthand what the site visit would be like, and it highlighted our strengths and areas that we needed to improve before the actual site visit. It was also a powerful way for us to get all employees on board and excited about PHAB accreditation. We got many positive comments and reactions from staff about ASTHO and the site visit experience afterward; they felt relieved and more prepared. It also energized the division and instilled a sense of pride in our work.
—Lisa McGuire, Organizational Improvement Manager, Alaska DPH
Utilizing PHIG Resources
PHIG resources also supported Alaska's accreditation efforts. PHIG funds covered part of a critical accreditation team member's salary and travel expenses for attending site visits, highlighting the importance of financial and logistical support in the accreditation process. Additionally, through PHIG Technical Assistance, ASTHO conducted the mock site visit.
Impact of Accreditation
While it is too early to measure the long-term impact of achieving national public health accreditation, Alaska DPH has already observed immediate positive change. Employees are better at aligning their program efforts with PHAB accreditation requirements:
- The Tobacco Prevention and Control Program has expanded its collaboration with the Department of Behavioral Health, which enforces tobacco laws. They now meet regularly to review compliance cases and collaborate to act and resolve them, leading to more effective enforcement of tobacco laws and resolution of compliance issues.
- The DPH now has a policy review process, a committee to do this work, and a suite of updated or new policies required for PHAB accreditation, which didn’t previously exist. This work allows the division to maintain its high standards of public health practice across all sections.
- The State Health Improvement Plan, Healthy Alaskans, is now on a five-year update cycle rather than a 10-year one, better aligning with the organizational strategic plan and emerging public health topics, trends, and community priorities.
All this work ultimately sets a solid foundation for the five-year reaccreditation application.
In the future, Alaska DPH will continue to advance the areas that PHAB highlighted for improvement in their final site visit report and will utilize PHIG funding to do so. Alaska DPH is also training more division team members about PHAB accreditation and requirements to increase their investment in the process and foster a sustainable accreditation culture.
PHAB accreditation is a quality improvement project in and of itself, so it has gone a long way in our quest to build a strong “QI culture” within the division. It has helped us organize how we do our work and make improvements for the health of Alaskans. Being accredited through PHAB makes it known that we meet national standards for public health services and programs—the gold standard for public health.
—Lisa McGuire, Organizational Improvement Manager, Alaska DPH
If your health agency wants more information about accreditation support, please submit a PHIG technical assistance request through PHIVE or contact performanceimprovement@astho.org for additional planning tools and resources.