Department of Public Health Awarded National Accreditation

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) has been awarded national accreditation status by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). While DPH’s four state hospitals, its public-health infectious-disease laboratory, and several of its programs have been nationally accredited, the designation marks the first time since the existence of the national accreditation program that the entire department is nationally accredited.

“The work of the Department of Public Health is critical to the overall health of the Commonwealth,” said Marylou Sudders, secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. “In addition to providing oversight of a wide range of healthcare-related professions and services, the department works to prevent epidemics, respond to disasters, and protect against environmental hazards, injury, and preventable disease and deaths.”

PHAB is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that has administered the national public-health accreditation program since it was launched in 2011. It is jointly supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The program aims to improve and protect the health of the public by advancing and ultimately transforming the quality and performance of the nation’s state, tribal, local, and territorial public-health departments.