DHHS POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

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Section III	Communications
Title:	Publications Review
Current Effective Date:	3/30/05
Revision History:	6/16/04, 7/15/04
Original Effective Date:	7/01/97

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Purpose

All publications produced by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) entities must comply with grammar, style and content guidelines established by the DHHS Office of Public Affairs.

Policy

Any publication (including “traditional” publications like brochures, posters, reports, booklets, video and audio production and “electronic” publications likes web sites) produced by, or for, a DHHS entity must be reviewed by the DHHS Office of Public Affairs to ensure that it complies with existing publication guidelines, including proper spelling, grammar, punctuation, style, content and appearance. This policy applies to copyrighted items that a DHHS entity purchases, or gets permission to use from another entity. This policy applies to both documents produced in-house and those produced by contracting parties on behalf of DHHS entities. It also applies to all publications produced in Spanish. Once a document is approved by public affairs, then reprints of that document will not have to be reviewed, but any changes to an approved document must be reviewed.

Implementation

Publication originators must ensure that information is factual, accurate, and conforms to department and state policies. The following multilevel review process will be used.

• Review at the division/office level by section chief (or higher supervisory authority) for technical and factual accuracy.
• Review by the division director or designee for content, style, and conformity to established standards.
• Review by the public affairs office for conformity to department publication guidelines.

Once divisional review is complete, the publication must be submitted to the DHHS Office of Public Affairs along with a signed DHHS PA2-Form. The DHHS Office of Public Affairs will review the publication, making any edits as needed, and return the publication to the division authority. The DHHS Public Affairs Office will conduct its review in a timely fashion. An attempt will be made to turn documents around within a one (1) week time period, but some documents (due to content or complexity) may take longer. Within one (1) working day of receiving an item for review, the DHHS Public Affairs Office will notify a division if a document is going to take longer than a week for a review. This notification will include a written explanation of the reason for the delay.

Publication guidelines and copies of the DHHS PA2-Form are available at http://www.ncdhhs.gov/publicaffairs/index.htm.

In order to avoid delays in publication, division authorities are encouraged to consult with the DHHS Public Affairs Office prior to creating a publication. That early consultation will pick up any issues that could be problematic if discovered late in the process when deadlines are looming.

For questions or clarification on any of the information contained in this policy, please contact the Office of Public Affairs. For general questions about department-wide policies and procedures, contact the DHHS Policy Coordinator.