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BACKGROUND: On January 24, 2014, the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) released, to the public, its Standards & Measures Version 1.5 (version 1.5) guidance document for voluntary public health department accreditation. 1 Specifically, among important changes from the preceding version 1.0, Health Equity standards and measures are highlighted throughout the guidance of version 1.5. 2The health equity guidance in version 1.5 enhances opportunities to address racial and ethnic health disparities within the context of accreditation. The objective of this case study is to highlight one state health department’s regional approach to address racial and ethnic health disparities via PHAB’s health equity standards and measures.
METHODS: When considering which framework to use to address racial and ethnic health disparities, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s The Roadmap to Reduce Health Disparities provides a research-based example. The six (6) steps of the roadmap are listed thusly: Link Quality & Equity Create a Culture of Equity Diagnose the Disparity Design the Activity Secure Buy-in Implement Change
The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps serve as a catalyst to conduct community health assessments by identifying racial and ethnic health disparities within Louisiana’s parishes through health outcomes (today’s health). Furthermore, through health factors, the Take Action Cycle serves as an impetus to develop and implement community health improvement plans within the parishes (tomorrow’s health). The Mobilizing for Action Through Planning and Partnerships(MAPP) process serves as the selected model for conducting community health assessments and for developing community health improvement plans through a health equity/ racial and ethnic health disparities lens.
RESULTS:
- The accreditation process provides an opportunity for multi-sector collaboration in addressing racial and ethnic health disparities.
- The accreditation process provides an opportunity to harness the collective impact of multi-sector partners to address racial and ethnic health disparities.
- The accreditation process provides an opportunity to create regional health profiles with an emphasis on racial and ethnic health disparities.
CONCLUSIONS: Voluntary Public Health Accreditation through PHAB can be instrumental in identifying opportunities to address ethnic and racial health disparities. This perspective could be helpful to other state health departments seeking voluntary accreditation by developing an approach to addressing racial and ethnic health disparities within their jurisdictions.