Environmental Public Health Performance Standards (EnvPHPS)

Check out our new guidance document, Improving Environmental Public Health Services Performance to Meet Community Needs. [PDF - 1.35 MB] The document describes performance improvement resources and tools and explains how those tools are used to produce results that can be integrated into broader public health department performance improvement initiatives.

The Environmental Public Health Performance Standards (EnvPHPS) are a set of standards that describe the optimal performance and capacity for environmental public health systems and programs. The EnvPHPS aim to help make environmental public health programs and systems more effective. The EnvPHPS assess and improve how programs and systems provide communities with the 10 Essential Environmental Public Health Services. These 10 services identify the actions necessary to protect and improve environmental public health.

There are two primary EnvPHPS documents:

• EnvPHPS (v 2.0) [PDF - 1.03 MB] – This document provides in-depth background on the EnvPHPS and the standards for each Essential Environmental Public Health Service.
• Environmental Public Health Program Self-assessment Instrument [PDF - 228 KB] – The self-assessment instrument is used for indicating assessment results for your program or system’s activity level for each Essential Environmental Public Health Service.

If your jurisdiction or community is planning to use the EnvPHPS, explore our resources to help you prepare for, conduct, and follow up on your assessment.

How Are the EnvPHPS Used?

The EnvPHPS can be used at multiple levels. For instance, you can use it to focus on a particular program such as food safety, drinking water, or vector control. You can use it to assess a specific environmental public health division or department, or to examine your entire environmental public health system. Many programs complete the self-assessment instrument only within their departments. However, assessing an environmental public health system as a whole can provide benefits as well, particularly if other organizations help to deliver services in a community.

Who Developed the EnvPHPS?

The EnvPHPS complement the National Public Health Performance Standards, while allowing for in-depth assessment of environmental public health programs and systems. An expert panel of environmental health managers developed the EnvPHPS with input from several organizations, including

• American Public Health Association (APHA)
• Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs (AEHAP)
• Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH)
• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)
• National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
• National Association of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH)
• National Environmental Health Association (NEHA)
• National Conference of Local Environmental Health Administrators (NCLEHA)
• National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL)

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