Agenda - 12-06-2004-6b - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: December 6, 2004 SUBJECT: Resolution S Accreditation for Local Health Action Agenda Item No. rtments DEPARTMENT: Health PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Resolution Commissioner Moses Garet', ext 2300 Rosemary Summers, ext 2411 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To consider adopting a resolution of support far promoting health department accreditation in North Carolina, BACKGROUND: The NG Association of Local Health Directors (NCALHD) has been studying the matter of accreditation of local health departments for more than six years. In 2003, the NCALHD and the State Health Director appointed a committee to make recommendations in this regard. Orange County Health Director Dr. Rosemary Summers was the co-chair of this NCALHD committee that recommended an accreditation process, structure and a framework for further work on specific standards, In 2004, the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services appointed a Public Health Task Force to study public health in North Carolina and to devise an action plan to strengthen public health infrastructure, improve health outcomes, and eliminate health disparities. Membership on the Public Health Task Force was broad and inclusive - legislators, community leaders, public health professionals from state agencies and universities, local health directors, other healthcare providers, and representatives from minority communities, Commissioner Moses Carey was appointed as a member of the Task Farce. One of the six subcommittees of this task force was charged with further development of the accreditation recommendations formulated by the NCALHD Committee the previous year. The final Public Health Task Force Report is available from the Health Department for review, Part of the Public Health Task Force report that has been reviewed by the Board of Health calls for an accreditation process that would assess the capacity of local health departments to deliver the ten essential services of public health, The Task Force Report also calls for State funding to assist counties engaging in the accreditation process, In the spring of 2004, six diverse local health departments (Alleghany-Ashe-Watauga District Health Department, Buncombe, Cabarrus, Chatham, Dare, and New Hanover) undertook a pilot accreditation process and were successfully accredited. The State assigned regional consultants to assist