New York State Department of Health Achieves National Reaccreditation Through the Public Health Accreditation Board

Department Demonstrated Commitment to Building & Maintaining a Strong Infrastructure to Protect the Health of New Yorkers

ALBANY, N.Y. (December 8, 2022) – The New York State Department of Health has achieved national reaccreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). In maintaining its accreditation status for another five years, the Department of Health has demonstrated that it meets PHAB's quality standards and measures and has demonstrated the capacity to continue to evolve, improve, and advance, thereby becoming increasingly effective at improving the health of the residents of New York State.

"The Public Health Accreditation Board's reaccreditation of the New York State Department of Health is something we are proud of, as it shows our commitment to advancing the quality of our programs and that of our dedicated staff," State Health Department First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Eugene Heslin said. "This reaccreditation demonstrates that the Department meets nationally accepted standards for public health agency performance that helps us achieve our goal for promoting health equity for all New Yorkers."

New York was one of the first large states to achieve national initial accreditation status for its Department of Health through PHAB on September 17, 2014, after undergoing a rigorous, multi-faceted, peer-reviewed assessment across the entire agency to ensure it met a set of quality standards and measures. Today's announcement goes a step further by demonstrating that the New York State Department of Health has the capacity to continue to be increasingly effective at improving the health of New York State.

To maintain accreditation status, the health department submitted documentation in Fall 2019 which was evaluated against a set of national reaccreditation standards 5-years after accreditation status was initially awarded.

This reaccreditation ensures that accredited health departments, like NYSDOH, continue to evolve, improve, and advance their public health practice to serve their community. The Standards & Measures 2022 document is the official standards, measures, required documentation, and guidance blueprint for PHAB national public health department reaccreditation. The Policy for National Public Health Agency Reaccreditation presents the process for maintaining accreditation status.

"We are extremely pleased to be at the point in the accreditation program where the New York State Department of Health, along with many others, are successfully maintaining their five-year accreditation status through PHAB," PHAB President and CEO Paul Kuehnert, DNP, RN, FAAN said. "In so doing, these health departments are assuring their communities that the value of accreditation is long-term -- not a one-time recognition -- and that continual improvement is the hallmark of a 21st century organization."

The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) was created in 2007 to serve as the national public health accrediting body and is jointly funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The development of national public health department accreditation has involved, and is supported by, public health leaders and practitioners from the national, state, local, Tribal, and territorial levels.

Learn more about PHAB and accreditation at https://phaboard.org/

Learn more about theNew York State Department of Health at https://health.ny.gov/