Office of Policy & Accountability
Sections
Vision
The Office of Policy and Accountability (OPA) is committed to impacting health through policy development, assessment and planning for statewide health improvement, and quality and Results-Based Accountability.
Policy Development
The OPA strives to influence policies through the coordination of legislation development and analysis across the Department. The Office works to build competencies in the public health workforce around understanding the often controversial role of politics, government and law to control and influence public health, and subsequently evaluating the legal and policy environment. The OPA also offers technical assistance in impacting public health policy.
Documents
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Report Cards
Las Disparidades Raciales y Étnicas de Salud en Nuevo México
American Indian Health Disparties Report Cards
Plans
Assessment and Planning for Statewide Health Improvement
Assessing the Health of New Mexicans
The OPA facilitates a statewide health assessment of the population of New Mexico. This is a collaborative process for sharing and analyzing data concerning health status, health challenges and potential resources available to address health issues. The health assessment reflects the convergence of health, economic, environmental and demographic information to create a context for health and quality improvement initiatives. DOH also produces The State of Health in New Mexico publication that provides a comprehensive view of current and past health issues, trends in health status, as well as current and needed actions to address these issues.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Report Card New Mexico
The New Mexico Health Disparities Report Card was created to monitor the state’s progress towards eliminating the health status gap between different population groups and to create a more cohesive approach to identifying and addressing health disparities.
Las Disparidades Raciales y Étnicas de Salud en Nuevo México
La Salud de Nuevo México disparidades Report Card se creó para supervisar el progreso del estado en la eliminación de la brecha de salud entre los diferentes grupos de población y para crear un enfoque más coherente para identificar y abordar las disparidades de salud.
American Indian Health Disparties Report Cards
Since 2008, the Department has also published a special edition of the report card that focuses on American Indian Health in the hope that public and private partners will join us in identifying the factors that contribute to the disproportionate burden of disease experienced by American Indians in New Mexico. The report also helps us identify successful strategies to reduce this burden.
Planning for Improved Health Outcomes for New Mexicans
The OPA coordinates the Department’s Strategic Plan. The plan reflects the commitment of DOH to be accountable to the people of New Mexico through the development of performance measures and strategies applied by DOH programs that establish population and performance accountability. This document accompanies the Department’s budget for the upcoming state fiscal year. The OPA also coordinates the State Health Improvement Plan that utilizes health assessment data to develop short and long term strategies and actions to improve the health of the entire population served by DOH programs. This plan addresses how the Department, in coordination with community and tribal partners and other stakeholders will address priority health issues in New Mexico.
Planning for Leadership in Health Care Reform
The OPA strives to position the Department to influence the evolving health care system through the use of expertise in healthy system assessment, policy development, community mobilization, effective data use and the forging of effective partnerships. This is an unprecedented period of change and opportunity for the Department of Health. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires public health to transcend traditional roles to adapt to an evolving health care system. As the health care system moves to integrated approaches to prevention, primary care, and overall health, public health leaders can provide leadership in mobilizing communities and facilitating productive partnerships to strategize new approaches. The OPA Public health works to mobilize support for the sharing of health information, help partners understand and communicate the contextual and analytical meaning of data, and build competency in the broader health system workforce for the optimal use of health information.
Results Accountability
Population and Performance Accountability
OPA leads performance accountability for the Department by actively using performance data to improve the public’s health. This involves the strategic use of performance standards, measures, progress reports, and ongoing quality improvement efforts to ensure an agency or community achieves desired results. The OPA facilitates the integration of performance management into core operations to ensure these practices occur at multiple levels, including the program, organization, community and system levels.
Three key components of our performance management system are:
- Public Health Accreditation
- “Results for People” Scorecard
- Performance Accountability
Public Health Accreditation
OPA is responsible for coordinating the Department’s Public Health Accreditation initiative. The goal of the national accreditation program is to improve and protect the health of the public by advancing the quality and performance of public health departments.
Public health accreditation is a national, voluntary standards-based program. Accreditation standards are based on 12 Domains which include the 10 Essential Public Health Services, Administration and Management and Governance.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is supporting the implementation of a national voluntary accreditation program for local, state, territorial, and tribal health departments. Please visit their Voluntary Accreditation for Public Health Departments page for more information.
The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) has been established to serve as the independent accrediting body. Please visit the Public Health Accreditation Board website for more information.
In response to the accreditation standards, OPA is managing three accreditation prerequisites: a State Health Assessment (SHA), Strategic Planning, and a State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP). OPA is also responsible for facilitating other PHAB accreditation requirements. All of these efforts are designed to improve public health infrastructure, strengthen quality and performance improvement within all public health programs and improve the partnerships we have throughout the state.
NMDOH Accreditation Timeline
| DATE | EVENT |
|---|---|
| PHAB begins accepting accreditation applications. | |
| NMDOH forms accreditation teams. | |
| NMDOH submits Statement of Intent | |
| NMDOH meets with Leaders and Champions on a regular basis to fill in documentation gaps. NMDOH provides monthly trainings for Champions. |
|
| NMDOH completes prerequisite documents, and applies for accreditation. | |
| NMDOH achieves National Voluntary Public Health Accreditation as a state health department. |
“Results for People” Scorecard
The NMDOH “Results for People” Scorecard is a performance management system DOH uses to promote accountability for investment in programs. The Scorecard helps the workforce collaborate, make data-driven decisions, and align the performance of their programs and initiatives with the impact that they create in the community. The “Results for People” Scorecard supports the implementation of Results-based Accountability, which is the key framework DOH uses for performance improvement. The Scorecard connects stakeholders in a single, interactive network, facilitates transparency and collaboration and systematically drives decision-making with data.
Performance Reports
Resources
Performance Improvement
Results-Based Accountability
DOH has selected Results-Based Accountability as a key framework for performance management and improvement. Results-Based Accountability (RBA) is a disciplined way of thinking and taking action used by communities to improve the lives of children, families and the community as a whole. RBA is also used by agencies to improve the performance of their programs. The usefulness of this approach is that it starts with the desired outcome and develops a set of evidence-based and/or evaluated strategies to attain the outcome.
Performance Accountability
Performance Accountability is required by the Accountability in Government Act (AGA), which provides state government the framework to produce more cost-effective and responsive government services. DOH demonstrates performance accountability through Quarterly Performance Reports. The report consists of the Department’s performance measures, targets, results and the activities that assist us in working towards our targets.
Workforce Development
The OPA mobilizes resources and provides technical guidance to others on the three core functions and the ten essential public health services. Currently, the DOH, NMSU and UNM are working together, through the “Public Health Learning Collaborative” to develop workforce training in public health principles and skills. This activity is called the “Public Health Learning Collaborative”. The OPA also provides training on RBA with the goal of building workforce competency in the meaningful use of data for assessments and subsequent performance improvement strategies. The guidance to others - not just the public health workforce, but also our community and tribal partners - conveys the relevance and value of combining data to tell a story, inform a policy, avert an unwanted outcome -- save someone’s life. The OPA is committed to expanding expertise in the broader health system workforce for using data to create a context from which to design interventions or create crucial feedback loops that ultimately impact health. In addition, the OPA mobilizes support for the sharing of health information which is a precursor to the optimal use of health information.
Websites
Resources & Links
We have a variety of useful resources to share and have listed them below for your use. Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional suggestions!
Advocates for Public Health Student Education
This site contains 150 + Free Online Public Health Courses and Certificates.
Healthy People 2020
Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans.
The Community Guide
The Guide to Community Preventive Services is a free resource to help you choose programs and policies to improve health and prevent disease in your community.
National Network of Public Health Institutes
NNPHI and its member public health institutes (PHIs) are engaged in numerous Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement (CHIP) initiatives with a broad range of partners, including public health departments, hospitals, and community-based organizations.
Maternal and Child Health Navigator
A learning portal for maternal and child health professionals, students, and others working to improve the health and well being of women, children, and families.
New Mexico Community Data Collaborative
A site that shares neighborhood data with local organizations that promotes community assessment, child health and participatory decision making.