(ASTHO: Arlington, VA) -- The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) has launched the first national voluntary accreditation program for public health departments. As a founding organization of PHAB, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) believes accreditation will drive continuous quality and performance improvement in all U.S. public health departments.

“ASTHO has fostered the goal of continuous quality improvement in public health agencies,” says Paul Jarris, executive director at ASTHO. “PHAB accreditation sets benchmarks through performance standards and measures that will help our members enhance the quality of the services they deliver to the community and improve organizational performance. ASTHO endorses PHAB’s standards and processes for accreditation as the sole voluntary national accreditation program for public health departments. These standards provide a blueprint for state and territorial public health practices, ensuring quality and improved accountability in state and territorial health departments. We strongly recommend that state and territorial health agencies attain voluntary national accreditation.”

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