Three Oklahoma public health departments receive national accreditation

The Public Health Accreditation Board announced Monday that it had awarded a five-year accreditation to 11 health departments across the U.S., including the Oklahoma State Department of Health, the Oklahoma City-County Health Department and the Comanche County Health Department.

By Jaclyn Cosgrove | Published: March 5, 2013 Comment on this article

Three Oklahoma public health entities are among some of the first health departments to receive national accreditation.

The Public Health Accreditation Board announced Monday that it had awarded a five-year accreditation to 11 health departments across the U.S., including the state Department of Health, Oklahoma City-County Health Department and Comanche County Health Department.

“It's quite a compliment to public health in the state of Oklahoma,” state Health Commissioner Terry Cline said.

The Public Health Accreditation Board was started through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and also the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is focused on health and health care in the U.S.

Kaye Bender, president of the Public Health Accreditation Board, said this is a historic moment in public health.

“With accreditation, we now have national standards that promote continuous quality improvement for public health and a mechanism for recognizing high-performing public health departments,” she said.

More than 125 health departments have applied for the accreditation and are awaiting results. It costs a health department between $12,720 and $95,400 to become accredited, depending on the population size its jurisdiction serves, according to the organization's website.

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