Published: April 28th, 2022

The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) has recently released its PHAB Standards & Measures Version 2022.  This new version reflects current public health priorities, trends, and vetted best practices. It also works to simplify the documentation and accreditation process overall to make accreditation more accessible. Health departments may apply for initial accreditation using the new 2022 guidelines starting July 1, 2022.

To follow suit, Clear Impact will update our PHAB Accreditation documentation tool — a free tool available to Clear Impact Scorecard customers. The Accreditation documentation tool is an organizational tool designed to help public health agencies simplify and expedite the documentation process so that they can become accredited more quickly. The tool helps in three main ways:

  1. Transforms the PHAB Standards & Measures guidance into a more navigable format so that agencies can quickly find the information they need to create their documents.
  2. Allows agencies to create their PHAB documentation within the system, with guidance readily available.
  3. Allows agencies to organize their documentation by Domain, Standard, and Measure.
  4. Allows multiple users to collaborate on the creation of documentation.

What’s Changed in the PHAB Standards & Measures Version 2022?

  1. Fewer Requirements

One of the significant changes in this year’s guidelines is a reduction in the number of Domains. Previously, the process required applicants to work through twelve Domains, while the updated standards only require ten. PHAB updated the Domains to reflect the Ten Essential Public Health Services, described by The Public Health National Center for Innovations (PHNCI) in 2020. This reduction in Domains, coupled with a new focus on minimizing documentation, has consequently reduced the number of required documents by 90.

      2. Focus on Health Equity

PHAB has also decided to extend its focus on health equity. Each domain has been reworked to address more equitable solutions to health problems. For example, the domain of community engagement has shifted from a focus on providing technical assistance to addressing barriers prohibiting community engagement. PHAB has intentionally infused equity throughout all ten Domains, rather than treating it as a separate focus.  To do this effectively, PHAB conducted a comprehensive and inclusive vetting process to ensure equity is authentically integrated.

      3. Emergency Preparedness 

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, PHAB updated its emergency preparedness guidelines. In this respect, PHAB has attempted to remove barriers for health departments in multiple ways. First, all accredited health departments will be exempt from the CDC’s Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation (capability 13). Also, all tribal health departments that have been PPHR recognized do not need to submit any further documentation for PHAB accreditation. 

You can learn more about the changes and download Version 2022 at the PHAB website here. 

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What Prompted The Changes to PHAB Standards and Measures? 

Version 2022 is the culmination of work by PHAB, beginning in 2017, to ensure that the accreditation process reflects the recent changes seen in the field of public health. The changes reflect rigorous research and a public vetting process. Below are PHAB’s own words on what they aim to accomplish with the new changes: 

  1. Reflect current aspirations of the field.
  2. Focus on meeting the intent of the measures rather than on documenting them.
  3. Reduce duplication and streamline requirements to reduce the documentation burden.
  4. Promote accountability by making Foundational Public Health Capabilities clearly visible in Version 2022.
  5. Clarify requirements by providing additional examples in the Guidance column and consolidating all “must” requirements in the Required Documentation column.

How can Clear Impact Help?

Clear Impact offers an Accreditation documentation tool via the Clear Impact Scorecard to help public health agencies easily create, organize, and update their accreditation documents. The updated tool is now available for Scorecard users, and offers the current standards for initial accreditationand reccreditation. 

In addition to offering the Accreditation documentation tool, the Clear Impact Scorecard can also help public health agencies gain accreditation by fulfilling additional facets of PHAB Accreditation. For example, agencies can use Clear Impact Scorecard to:

  1. Fulfill the use of a performance management system to monitor the achievement of organizational objectives.
  2. Monitoring and improving public health outcomes measures.
  3. Engage in public communication and education efforts.

You can learn more about Clear Impact Scorecard and how it can accelerate Public Health Accreditation and Reaccreditation in a quick custom demo with one of our friendly staff.