The focus of North Carolina’s Local Health Department Accreditation (NCLHDA) is on the capacity of the local health department to perform at a prescribed, basic level of quality the three core functions of assessment, assurance, and policy development and the ten essential services as detailed in the National Public Health Performance Standards Program. The program focuses on a set of minimal standards that must be provided to ensure the protection of the health of the public, but does not limit the services or activities an agency may provide to address specific local needs. NCLHDA does not create a wholly new accountability system; rather it links basic standards to current state statutes and administrative code, and the many Division of Public Health and Division of Environmental Health contractual and program monitoring requirements that are already in place.
The program comprises three functional components:
1. An agency self assessment, which includes 41 benchmarks and 148 activities
2. A three day site visit by a multidisciplinary team of peer volunteers, and
3. Determination of accreditation status by the North Carolina Local Health Department Accreditation Board.
