Environmental Health Continuous
Improvement Board
January 28, 2015 Meeting Take-Home Points and Action Items
Take-Home Points
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The Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board developed a draft work plan
to achieve the following goals:
o Determine how (and when) the FPLS program evaluation assessment tool will
be applied for re-evaluations
o Gather information and feedback to improve the FPLS program evaluation
process
o Issue a statement about the value of state-local partnership and delegation
agreements
o Establish a standing manager’s meeting and develop a formal, collaborative
process for policy development and roll-out
o Establish a common understanding of a quality FPLS program and develop
corresponding metrics
o Clarify and improve EH communication channels
o Ensure Board effectiveness and accountability
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The Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board acknowledges that their
constituents want to see action from the Board. The Board also acknowledges that to be
successful they 1) need a solid foundation of trust to work from and 2) they need to
allow time for constituents to contribute to and/or participate in the decision making
process. The Board believes their work in 2014 set the foundation for action to occur in
2015. You can help the Board make progress by providing feedback to your Board
representative and/or by participating in upcoming EHCIB meetings and activities.

The Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board is making progress on their
goal to determine how the FPLS program evaluation assessment tool will be applied for
re-evaluations. Between now and the next Board meeting, each of the programs that
are currently in unacceptable status will be contacted by a team of Board members and
MDH staff to gather information to inform the development of a re-evaluation process.
The Board will use the information gathered during these meetings to agree on a reevaluation process to be implemented.
Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board
Minnesota Department of Health
Public Health Practice Section – Health Partnerships Division
P.O. Box 64975
St. Paul, MN 55164-0975
(651) 201-3880

The Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board had a substantial discussion
about the need to improve the FPLS program evaluation process.
o All meeting participants – which included representatives from delegated
programs in the metro area, delegated programs from greater MN, MDH, CHBs
without delegation agreements, and guests from various organizations –
agreed:
 The current FPLS program evaluation tools [self-evaluation, evaluation
documentation] are useful aspects of the evaluation program which will
need to be evaluated at for improvements
 The program evaluation process has deficiencies in a number of areas
and is not fully effective for a number of reasons including: it is not
efficient; it is incomplete (i.e. a means for making the process a cycle
that promotes ongoing continuous improvement—as was intended, has
not been put into practice); and communication mechanisms before,
during and after the process are not fully developed.
o MDH confirmed that the FPLS program evaluation process is currently on hold.
Four delegated programs and MDH have not yet been evaluated (even though
they were scheduled to be evaluated).
o The Board determined that:
 It is more important to fix the process than to have every program go
through the same process.
 Establishing a re-evaluation process is an important step in the right
direction, but is not enough to fix the current overall evaluation process.
 Having a complete set of comparison data from a flawed and mistrusted
evaluation process is not a good reason for making everyone go through
the same process.
 The programs that have not yet been evaluated have the right to be
evaluated. They also should be evaluated under a process that is
beneficial to them and to the public.
 At least one MDH program should experience the current evaluation
process so they know first-hand what works and doesn’t work about the
process.
 More information needs to be gathered from those who went through
the evaluation process to determine what improvements should be
made.
o The discussion resulted in the following recommendation by the Board :
 MDH undergo an evaluation of one of their programs so that they have
experience to contribute to an assessment of the process.
 The remaining programs that have not yet been evaluated continue to
hold and not be evaluated under the current process.
Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board
Minnesota Department of Health
Public Health Practice Section – Health Partnerships Division
P.O. Box 64975
St. Paul, MN 55164-0975
(651) 201-3880

o
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MDH convene a meeting(s) to gather feedback on the current
evaluation process.
 MDH and the EHCIB improve the evaluation process based on feedback
and seek additional input on the improved process before MDH begins
implementation.
 MDH and the four programs that have not yet been evaluated are the
first to undergo evaluation under the improved process.
 The improved process is implemented in the spirit of continuous
improvement. The EHCIB ensures that the evaluation process is
reviewed on a regular basis.
The Board wants the support of its constituents before moving forward. Board
members are seeking input on the above recommendation between now and
the March meeting when a decision on how to proceed will be made. As always,
all are welcome to attend the Board meetings.
The Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture
continue to have conversations about where their food safety programs do and do not
align. Local input will be sought in the near future. There are no immediate plans to
merge the programs.
Action Items
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Members to review questions for re-evaluation process interviews and email Tom
and/or Dawn with feedback.
Tom and Dawn to continue work with MDH staff to collect input from FPLS programs
rated as “Unacceptable” and develop a re-evaluation process for the Board’s
consideration in March.
Tom Hogan to develop a letter about the current state of the evaluation process and
email to EHCIB members for feedback.
Tom Hogan and Dawn Beck to look for opportunities to introduce MDH’s new Deputy
Commissioner and LPHA’s new Executive Director to the EHCIB since both of their
predecessors were involved in the establishment of the EHCIB.
OPI staff to investigate the possibility of holding the scheduled May 13th EHCIB meeting
in Alexandria in conjunction with the MEHA Spring Conference or reschedule the
meeting.
Allie Freidrichs, Carol Schefers and Tom Hogan will have a discussion with LPHA’s
executive committee about how to use LPHA as a forum for engaging EH managers.
Steven Diaz will invite Environmental Health Managers and Community Health Boards
without delegation agreements to a meeting. The purpose of the meeting is for Steven
to introduce himself as the new Manager of MDH’s Food, Pools, and Lodging Services
Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board
Minnesota Department of Health
Public Health Practice Section – Health Partnerships Division
P.O. Box 64975
St. Paul, MN 55164-0975
(651) 201-3880

Section and discuss possible options for an ongoing forum for EH collaboration and
policy discussions. If needed, Jon Weinand will find space at the city of Minnetonka to
hold the meeting.
OPI to re-draft the statement of support based on the Board’s discussion and send to
members for further input.
Upcoming Meetings
 March 11, 2015
 May 13, 2015 (note: this meeting may be rescheduled due to a conflict with the MEHA
2015 Spring conference)
 July 8, 2015
 September 9, 2015
 November 16, 2015
Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board
Minnesota Department of Health
Public Health Practice Section – Health Partnerships Division
P.O. Box 64975
St. Paul, MN 55164-0975
(651) 201-3880