Why is now the perfect time to build your public health infrastructure?
The pandemic has shown, now more than ever, the importance of robust public health infrastructure in Tribal Nations. The public health accreditation readiness process is the perfect tool to help Tribal health departments structure a more formalized approach to public health. Even if your Tribe decides ultimately not to pursue the full accreditation process, completing the necessary planning documents will support your efforts toward building public health capacity to promote and protect the health of your Tribal Nation.
The three critical public health planning documents are:
- Tribal Community health assessment: Engage in community-wide activities to gather data, information, and input from and about the community’s health-related needs. This information will help determine priorities.
2. Tribal Community Health Improvement Plan: Using the data and information obtained during the community health assessment, the multi-year improvement plan identifies programs and activities to address needs.
3. Tribal health department strategic plan: The strategic plan for the health department is an operationally based multi-year plan which outlines goals, objectives activities, and methods to evaluate the effectiveness and achievements of the plan.
Let Blue Stone Strategy Group help you with these initiatives. Our team of Tribal public health and Tribal health subject matter experts can support your efforts. Tribal public health capacity building, including community health assessments, community improvement planning, and strategic planning can be funded under a number of federal agency opportunities including those from the CDC, IHS, and the CARES Act.
If you would like to discuss a potential public health project please feel free to reach out to our Public Health Program Services Experts.
You can contact us directly by calling Kate Grismala at (860) 235-6371.
The expectation is that accreditation will strengthen all public health departments and the services they provide, which will contribute to improved community health. Accreditation can benefit Native communities in various ways, including:
- Responsibility and visibility. Implementing accreditation standards can support Tribal governments in their efforts to improve their community’s health.
- Performance feedback and quality improvement. The accreditation assessment process provides valuable, measurable feedback to public health programs on their strengths and areas for improvement.
- Valuable partnerships. The accreditation process encourages strong, active partnerships between public health practitioners, stakeholders, and community members in Indian Country.
- Reducing health disparities. The accreditation process promotes building and enhancing public health services so that the same level of high-quality public health services is available to everyone.
Each applicant must complete three agency-wide processes before applying for national accreditation: A Tribal Community Health Assessment, a Tribal Community Health Improvement Plan, and a Tribal Agency Strategic Plan. To be eligible for accreditation, these three documents must have been updated in the last 5 years.
Tribal Community Health Assessments
According to PHAB, a Tribal community health assessment is a collaborative process of collecting and analyzing data and information for use in educating and mobilizing communities, developing priorities, garnering resources, and planning actions to improve the population’s health.
Tribal Community Health Improvement Plan
According to PHAB, a Tribal community health improvement plan is a long-term, systematic plan to address issues identified in the tribal community health assessment.
Tribal Health Department Strategic Plan
According to PHAB, the Tribal agency strategic plan shapes and guides the activities of a tribal health department, sets forth the department’s vision, mission and guiding principles. Also, this document outlines the strategic priorities and describes the measurable and time-framed goals and objectives of the department.