An Examination of Public Health Financial Management System Accreditation

Accreditation of governmental public health agencies is a relatively new concept that began in 2006. The accreditation program strives to advance improvements in quality and performance in state and local governmental public health agencies across the nation. Standards and measures are the traditional assessment criteria in accreditation systems used to evaluate that acceptable levels of quality are present and aligned with industry-specific goals for quality. In this study, an examination was conducted to assess the reliability of standards and measures for evaluating the effectiveness of public health agency financial management systems. The higher education system for accreditation of college and universities was selected for comparison purposes. The rationale for higher education was based in part on the relationship of colleges and universities to federal agencies which is very similar to that of governmental public health agencies. Also considered were the maturity of the higher education accreditation system, number of higher education accreditation agencies and access to their standards and measures. Based on these comparisons, the study found opportunities to improve rigor and quality in the public health accreditation process. Recommendations are provided on how additional standards and measures could strengthen verification and even promote institutional value for effective financial management systems. Dedication This paper is dedicated to the work of Dr. Louis Gapenski. Later in his career, Lou acquired a keen interest in educating on the application of financial management concepts to the field of public health. Given the focus of research in this paper, appropriate illustrations are provided on how his life’s work provides the fundamentals for establishing public health financial management systems. His subsequent contributions of educational materials for use in public health remains the sole comprehensive source of content exclusively on training this segment of the workforce on applying financial management concepts to public health practice. As others begin to expand on his work in this area of public health practice, Lou’s impact on topics in public health finance are forever carved into the foundation of this field of study.