Public Health Agency Accreditation Among Rural Local Health Departments: Influencers and Barriers

Beatty, Kate E.; Erwin, Paul Campbell; Brownson, Ross C.; Meit, Michael; Fey, James T.

doi:10.1097/phh.0000000000000509

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The rural percentage variable was significant and negative in the analysis, indicating that a higher percentage of rural population is associated with a lower countermeasures management score. This finding supports the literature indicating the significant public health challenges rural areas have historically faced, including funding, personnel, and other types of capacity challenges that hinder rural health departments in efforts like receiving accreditation (Beatty et al 2018). At the beginning of the pandemic, there was evidence that certain rural states were proving effective in distributing and dispensing the COVID-19 vaccines compared to their more urban counterparts (Siegler 2021).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…In the study by Santibañez et al (2019), all 14 rural districts studied reported staffing as a performance challenge. Beatty et al (2018) noted that inadequate staffing presented a barrier to rural health departments receiving accreditation. Accreditation has been found to be an effective tool for generating improvement and change in public health departments, which has particular importance for rural areas (Beatty et al 2016 as cited in Beatty et al 2018).…”

Section: Rural Areas Administrative Capacity and Countermeasure Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beatty et al (2018) noted that inadequate staffing presented a barrier to rural health departments receiving accreditation. Accreditation has been found to be an effective tool for generating improvement and change in public health departments, which has particular importance for rural areas (Beatty et al 2016 as cited in Beatty et al 2018). Lack of public health accreditation in rural departments also speaks to the larger problem of evidence-based practices being seen as too time-consuming and resource-intensive.…”

Section: Rural Areas Administrative Capacity and Countermeasure Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Rurality Versus Readiness: The Relationship Between State-Level Connection and Capacity Variables and the Management of Medical Stockpiles for a Public Health Emergency

Myers

2021

State and Local Government Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigates what factors contributed to the score a state received for managing its medical countermeasures stockpile pre-COVID-19. It is particularly interested in the relationship between a state’s level of rural population and its countermeasure management capacity. A fixed-effects regression analysis was run using data from 2016 to 2019 to test for a relationship between the percentage of rural population in a state and the states’ countermeasures management score, while controlling for other relevant social, economic, and political variables such as level of social associations, the segregation index, and the level of income inequality. Rurality and physicians per capita proved to be significant and negative. A subsequent analysis found that states with higher levels of rural populations have lower levels of COVID-19 vaccinations, even accounting for effective countermeasure management. This points to rural states having challenges in regard to medical countermeasures that cannot be completely solved with technocratic solutions.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Rural Areas Administrative Capacity and Countermeasure Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rural Areas Administrative Capacity and Countermeasure Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Rurality Versus Readiness: The Relationship Between State-Level Connection and Capacity Variables and the Management of Medical Stockpiles for a Public Health Emergency

Myers

2021

State and Local Government Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Small jurisdiction population size and rurality are known to be associated with lower likelihood of health department accreditation or preparations for accreditation (26). Health departments with fewer employees conduct community health assessments and planning but find it difficult to address all the accreditation standards (27).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local Health Department Accreditation Is Associated With Organizational Supports for Evidence-Based Decision Making

Allen

Mazzucca

Parks

et al. 2019

Front. Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: Recent studies show that health department accreditation from the U.S. Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) drives performance management and quality improvement. PHAB standards call for agencies to use evidence in decision making. It is unknown whether accreditation is associated with organizational supports for evidence-based decision making (EBDM). Self-report data from a 2017 survey of U.S. local health departments were analyzed to test relationships of accreditation status with organizational supports for EBDM. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in this observational study. A total of 579 local health departments were invited to complete an online survey; 350 (60.4%) provided complete data for the present study. The dependent variables were six factors of organizational supports for EBDM previously validated through confirmatory factor analyses. Accreditation status (PHAB-accredited, preparing, not preparing) was the independent variable of interest. Logistic regression analyses controlled for governance (presence of a local board of health; state, local, or shared state and local governance) and jurisdiction population size. Results: PHAB-accredited health departments were more likely to report higher capacity for EBDM, resource availability for EBDM, and evaluation capacity than health departments that reported not yet preparing for accreditation. Health departments that reported preparing for PHAB accreditation showed a non-significant pattern of higher perceived supports for EBDM compared to departments not preparing for accreditation. Conclusion: PHAB standards and the accreditation process may help stimulate health department organizational supports for EBDM.

show abstract

“…18,19 However, many Healthy People goals are unmet, and only 209 LHDs had achieved accreditation as of November 20, 2018, with many indicating that the time and effort are too high for the benefit. 20 -24 In addition, no clear baseline for performance of LHDs exists. Studies investigating the performance of LHDs tend to focus on the most populous cities or health departments that opted into programs such as the National Public Health Performance Standards Program and, hence, may overestimate nationwide capacity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance and Priorities: A Cross-sectional Study of Local Health Department Approaches to Essential Public Health Services

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: Despite a push for increased local public health capacity, no clear baseline for performance of local health departments (LHDs) exists. The objectives of this study were to quantify the self-reported performance of LHDs on the 10 Essential Public Health Services (EPHSs) and describe the relationships between performance and characteristics of LHDs. Methods: We used data on 2000 LHDs from the 2013 National Profile of Local Health Departments survey to develop principal components analysis–based scores to evaluate each LHD on the performance of EPHSs. Scores ranged from 0 to 100. LHDs that performed no activities within an EPHS had a score of 0, and LHDs that performed all activities within an EPHS had a score of 100. We explored the relationships between EPHS scores and LHD characteristics by using multivariate linear regression and cluster analysis. Results: Performance scores varied greatly by LHDs and EPHSs; however, LHDs typically scored <50, indicating that they performed fewer than half of the activities evaluated. LHDs that served larger populations (vs smaller populations) and LHDs that had higher per-capita funding (vs lower per-capita funding) had higher EPHS scores. We identified 6 EPHS performance score–based LHD clusters, which suggests similarities in which EPHSs LHDs focused on. Conclusions: Our results suggest weaknesses in many LHDs’ fulfillment of the EPHSs, particularly in low-population and low-funding settings. LHDs should be given the resources to increase capacity and ensure the EPHSs are met in communities.

show abstract

Public Health Agency Accreditation Among Rural Local Health Departments: Influencers and Barriers

Cited by 14 publications

References 24 publications

Rurality Versus Readiness: The Relationship Between State-Level Connection and Capacity Variables and the Management of Medical Stockpiles for a Public Health Emergency

Rurality Versus Readiness: The Relationship Between State-Level Connection and Capacity Variables and the Management of Medical Stockpiles for a Public Health Emergency

Local Health Department Accreditation Is Associated With Organizational Supports for Evidence-Based Decision Making

Performance and Priorities: A Cross-sectional Study of Local Health Department Approaches to Essential Public Health Services

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About