Title
Health and Human Services Agency recommending the Board consider the following:
1) Approve the use of the Public Health Accreditation Board Site Visitor Agreement Form 2014, noting the non-standard indemnity language; and
2) Authorize County staff participating as a Public Health Accreditation Board site visitor to sign said agreement, including any future amendments, contingent upon approval by County Counsel and Risk Management.
FUNDING: Federal Medi-Cal Administrative Activities Fund Balance.
Body
Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost
There is no cost associated with this agenda item except for participating staff time. Travel expenses are paid for by the Public Health Accreditation Board.
Background
National public health accreditation is defined as the development of standards, a process to measure health department performance against those standards, and recognition for those departments that meet the standard. Public health department accreditation standards address a range of core public health programs and activities including health education, health promotion, community health, chronic disease prevention and control, communicable disease, injury prevention, environmental health, maternal and child health, public health emergency preparedness, access to clinical services, public health laboratory services, and public health administration and governance.
Accreditation is achieved through a process overseen by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), a nonprofit organization, with the goal of advancing the quality and performance of public health departments. Through the accreditation process a public health department documents the capacity to deliver the three core functions of public health (assessment, policy development, and assurance) and the ten essential public health services which provide the framework for describing public health services. Accreditation is voluntary and as of March 19, 2014, there were thirty-one accredited public health departments nationwide.
The Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Strategic Plan includes Public Health Accreditation as Project 3.6. HHSA staff have the opportunity to participate on behalf of PHAB as a site visitor of other health departments undergoing the accreditation process. By allowing HHSA staff to participate as a site visitor, HHSA will gain first-hand knowledge of the accreditation process and associated requirements which will likely result in a more efficient and successful accreditation process for the El Dorado County Public Health Department in the future. HHSA staff cannot participate as a site visitor without first signing the PHAB Site Visitor Agreement Form 2014.
Reason for Recommendation
The PHAB Site Visitor Agreement Form includes the following indemnity language:
"I hereby indemnify PHAB, its officers, directors, employees, members, subsidiaries, agents, successors and assigns, from and against all claims, liabilities and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, which may result from my acts, omissions or breach of this Agreement."
County Counsel approval is contingent upon Board of Supervisors notification of the non-standard indemnification provision.
Clerk of the Board Follow Up Actions
None.
Contact
Don Ashton, M.P.A., Director
Concurrences
County Counsel