Maintaining Accreditation through PHAB Ensures DOH-Palm Beach’s Capacity to Continue to Evolve, Improve and Advance

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Palm Beach County, Florida. — The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) reaccredited the Florida Department of Health, which includes the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County, as an integrated health department for another five years. This seal of accreditation signifies that the unified Florida Department of Health, which includes the State Health Office and the 67 county health departments, meets or exceeds national standards for public health performance management and continuous quality improvement. The Department demonstrated a focus on accountability and performance to improve the health of communities throughout the state.

"We are so pleased to again be recognized by PHAB for achieving national standards that foster effectiveness and promote continuous quality improvement," said Dr. Alina Alonso, Director DOH- Palm Beach. “I want to thank all the dedicated Public Health staff and our community partners who by working tirelessly to improve our services and performance, allow us to become increasingly effective at improving the health of the population we serve."

In order to further performance improvement and community engagement efforts, DOH-Palm Beach, along with dozens of community partners, recently completed a comprehensive Palm Beach County Community Health Assessment (CHA). Efforts are now underway to create a new Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) this summer.

In Palm Beach County every resident has the opportunity to have a medical home, even without insurance, thanks to the presence of four Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and their respective clinics in the county, namely, Health Care District of Palm Beach County, Foundcare Inc., Genesis Community Health, and Florida Community Health Centers.

PHAB praised the Department for operating as a collaborative and effective integrated system noting that the inter-county collaboration is evident through shared programs and positions across the state. PHAB applauded staff across the integrated system for being highly dedicated, passionate, and proud of their work around improving the health of the communities they serve. PHAB also commended the Department for maintaining a continued commitment to accreditation.

PHAB, the nongovernmental, nonprofit organization that administers the national accrediting program, works to improve and protect the public's health by advancing and transforming the quality and performance of governmental public health departments in the United States.

About the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County

The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County, nationally accredited as part of an Integrated Local Public Health Department System by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

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To learn more about DOH-Palm Beach programs, visit http://palmbeach.floridahealth.gov/.