Ohio Department of Health Selects Accela Civic Application for State & Local Environmental Health Inspection and Data Management

SAN RAMON, Calif., Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Accela announces that the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) has selected Accela’s Civic Application for Environmental Health for its Environmental Health Data System Integration project. The Accela solution will provide operational improvements to the state and local health departments to better serve, protect, and improve Environmental Public Health for Ohio residents. The software will enhance the department’s ability to collect and evaluate aggregate environmental health data statewide to ensure compliance with Ohio’s Environmental Health laws, improve reporting, and foster communication between state and local health agencies and their constituencies. Collected data will also inform data-driven programmatic improvements and training opportunities for staff and the regulated community. 

“The essential regulatory protections of reviewing plans, issuing licenses, conducting inspections, responding to complaints, and educating operators is central to Accela’s deep Environmental Health experience,” said Darryl Booth, Accela’s General Manager for Environmental Health. “What makes this project so special is the strong state and local partnership, emphasizing the agencies’ shared public health goals to protect the citizens of Ohio. At the same time, this investment modernizes the ways businesses interact with regulators to stay agile in a dynamic regulatory landscape.”  

The ODH Bureau of Environmental Health and Radiation Protection (BEHRP) is responsible for implementing the State’s Environmental Public Health laws, gathering environmental health data, and monitoring local environmental health programs statewide for compliance. BEHRP is one of 10 offices and bureaus comprising the ODH, serving the needs of Ohio’s 11.7 million residents across 113 local health districts. The Bureau will make Accela’s cloud-based Environmental Health solution available to all local agencies statewide to facilitate and streamline regulation of a wide range of public activities and services, including agricultural labor camps, food safety, public pools and spas, recreational campgrounds, private water systems, and household sewage treatment systems. 

Accela’s technology will enhance the BEHRP’s ability to collect and assess aggregate environmental health data across Ohio’s local health districts, identify common barriers to compliance, and inform development of training materials. It will also help improve monitoring, reporting, and communication between Ohio state agencies and local health district environmental health programs staff to foster collaboration across the state. Ohio state agencies will be able to underwrite their shared data systems for local health districts’ state-mandated programs. Additionally, local health districts will have the option to implement Accela’s solution to activate supplementary local functionalities for health programs the State does not require.

Accela’s Civic Application for Environmental Health enables health departments across the world to modernize how they deliver services by automating critical activities to significantly enhance their ability to protect public health. The software enables both back-office activities such as plan review, time tracking, and renewals, and fieldwork, including inspections, complaint investigation, enforcement. It also provides a public-facing web portal to process applications, track complaints, and provide access to public records. Operators may transact safely from their homes or offices. More sophisticated projects may also invoke Accela’s Construct API, a method of transacting outside of the Accela user interface. Accela is structured as a steady and predictable budget line item for health departments, possessing an unlimited capacity for functional expansion as laws, regulations, and practices evolve.

Today’s announcement reinforces Accela’s commitment to delivering modern digital tools to help protect thriving communities, now and in the future. Powered by Microsoft Azure, Accela’s secure and flexible SaaS solutions equip governments with the resources to quickly respond to evolving community needs, increase efficiency, and maintain resilience. More than half of Accela’s state and local customers are now in the cloud, underscoring the increasing importance of SaaS technology for navigating modern governance. To learn more about Accela’s Civic Applications, please visit https://www.accela.com/solutions/. 

About Accela 
Accela provides market-leading cloud solutions that empower the most innovative state and local governments around the world to build thriving communities, grow businesses and protect citizens. More than 275 million citizens globally benefit from Accela’s software, which is powered by Microsoft Azure, for permitting, licensing, code enforcement and service request management. Accela’s fast-to-implement Civic Applications, built on its robust and extensible Civic Platform, help agencies address specific needs today, while ensuring they are prepared for any emerging or complex challenges in the future. The company was recently recognized as a 2020 Microsoft US Partner Award winner for its innovative SaaS solutions to help governments respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Accela is headquartered in San Ramon, California, with additional offices around the world. For more information, visit www.accela.com.

Contact: Kate Helete, (805) 458-5093, kate@riffcitystrategies.com

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SOURCE Accela