The National Indian Health Board (NIHB) recently congratulated the Cherokee Tribe and Cherokee Nation Health Services in Tahlequah, Oklahoma for becoming the first Tribe to receive public health accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). They are one of 16 health departments notified on August 22, 2016, and are now one of 151 total accredited health departments across the U.S.
“The Cherokee Nation must be proud to be the first to complete this important journey. They are the first of what we know will be many more Tribes, and we know that they have worked for years to earn this recognition,” says Stacy A. Bohlen, (Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa), Executive Director, National Indian Health Board. “When we embrace, Tribal Public Health Accreditation and build our Tribal public health capacity we’re preventing disease, we’re promoting health, we’re honoring the ancestors, we’re honoring our own culture and traditions.”
Public health accreditation is the measurement of a health department’s public health performance and systems against a set of national standards based on the 10 essential services of public health. The voluntary national accreditation program became available in 2011 and the goal is to improve and protect the health of the public by advancing the quality and performance of Tribal, state, local, and territorial public health departments. Health departments become accredited by meeting nationally recognized, practice-focused and evidence-based standards.
The process seeks to advance quality and performance within public health departments. According to the PHAB, to receive national public health accreditation, a Tribal health department must undergo a rigorous, multi-faceted, peer-reviewed assessment process to ensure it meets or exceeds a set of public health quality standards and measures.
The process is voluntary, and Tribes have a choice whether or not to undertake the process. Every year, more and more Tribes learn about Tribal public health accreditation and make the decision to move in that direction. Now that the Cherokee Nation has paved the way, many more Tribes are sure to follow in their footsteps.
Since 2008, the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) has partnered with the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Woods Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and other national partners in an effort to advance public health practice by supporting a Tribal public health accreditation technical assistance and capacity building program. NIHB looks forward to helping more Tribes achieve what the Cherokee Nation has shown is possible.
