Organizational Self-Assessment

In July 2011, the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) released standards and measures for public health departments. PHAB’s vision is “a high performing governmental public health system that will make us a healthier nation.” While developed for the purpose of accreditation, these standards and measures allow local, state and tribal health departments in Minnesota to assess themselves consistently, and identify strengths and areas for improvement.

During the summer and fall of 2011, most of Minnesota’s community health boards and one tribal health department worked with public health nurse consultants from the MDH Office of Performance Improvement to conduct a self-assessment against these national public health standards. Every health department in Minnesota—including the Minnesota Department of Health—is being asked to examine its ability to meet these standards and to demonstrate that ability through documentation.

Once the self-assessment is complete, community health boards will identify the Three Standards Most in Need of Improvement (a deliverable to MDH). These three standards can then can be used to inform quality improvement plans and strategic plans.

While the results of the 2011 round of self-assessments can be reported and meet the 2015 Local Public Health Assessment and Planning deliverable requirements, health departments can consider repeating this exercise every two years to inform ongoing quality improvement planning.

Process Overview

The Organizational Self-Assessment process is mapped out below:

Overview

Deliverable

DeliverableThree Standards Most in Need of Improvement