Marshaling the evidence: the prioritized public health accreditation research agenda.

A national public health department accreditation program was recently developed and implemented by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) to improve the quality and performance of public health departments. Because of its potential to transform public health, it is critical that the evidence base around accreditation be strong. With input from public health practitioners and researchers, PHAB developed a research agenda that highlights priority questions related to barriers and facilitators to seeking and obtaining accreditation, the PHAB standards and review process, metrics to determine the impact of accreditation, and benefits and outcomes associated with accreditation for the departments that undergo the process. We present that agenda, discuss the potential challenges of conducting accreditation research, and call on researchers to build a greater base of evidence related to accreditation.