Blog

In October 2017, a colleague and I attended an outstanding meeting convened by the Root Cause Coalition in Louisville, KY. The group’s second annual Summit on the Social Determinants of Health drew some 450 attendees from hospitals and health systems, health plans, social service agencies, and community-based...

Assessing, Improving, and Evaluating Unregulated Drinking Water Programs

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

October 10, 2017

Approximately 13% of U.S. Households, or about 43 million people, use drinking water systems and sources that are not covered by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act1. These systems are primarily private wells but may also include springs, cisterns, and hauled water systems. Most private well programs...

Blasting Off: Achieving Team Success Using Quality Improvement Tools

Posted in: Infrastructure, Performance Management and Quality Improvement, and Strategic Planning

August 25, 2017

“Houston, we have a problem.” The story of the Apollo 13 mission stands as a shining example of a high-functioning and effective team, one that brought a damaged spacecraft, and its astronauts, home safely. But what should you do when your quality improvement (QI) team is stuck on the launch pad or...

Activate Your Community Health Improvement Plan Using Quality Improvement Tools

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

June 14, 2017

A community health improvement plan (CHIP) or a state health improvement plan (SHIP) identifies actions that can be taken to improve a community’s health. This is an important step, but many communities find themselves down the road from their plan, with the plan still on the shelf. If your plan has...

Team Unity and Falling in Love with an Actionable Performance Management Process

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

May 12, 2017

Dr. Nafissa Cisse Egbuonye, Public Health Director, Black Hawk County Health Department and Sonja Armbruster, Performance Management & Quality Improvement Expert, PHF, and Director of Wichita State University’s Center for Public Health Initiatives Valentine’s Day conjures memories of elementary sch...

Using Quality Improvement Tools to Weather the Storm

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

May 5, 2017

As political climate change occurs, feelings of instability and uncertainty can threaten work in performance improvement. This uncertainty can incite crisis mode, where poor planning and quick responses lead to increased stress when solutions do not address the root causes of problems. However, these...

Eye on PI: Performance Improvement Professionals Share Ideas for Refining Competencies

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement, and Workforce Development

April 10, 2017

As part of the effort to refine a set of draft Competencies for Performance Improvement (PI) Professionals in Public Health, the Public Health Foundation (PHF) has been collecting input about PI competencies from the public health community. This input has been received from PI professionals, as well...

Using the A3 Problem Solving Report at Oklahoma City-County Health Department

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

April 7, 2017

Kathie Dyer, Quality Improvement Council Consultant, Oklahoma City-County Health Department Efficiency at Oklahoma City-County (OK) Health Department (OCCHD) is a prime objective in our day-to-day operations, and as the Quality Improvement (QI) Council Consultant at OCCHD, I am always on the lookout...

What Does it Take to Be a Performance Improvement Professional?

Posted in: Council on Linkages, Performance Management and Quality Improvement, Strategic Planning, and Workforce Development

February 14, 2017

Julie Sharp, Performance Improvement Specialist, Performance Management and Quality Improvement, Public Health Foundation Since 2001, the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals have inspired the development of a number of discipline-specific competency sets, including Competencies for App...

Putting Performance Management into Action

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

January 18, 2017

Julie Sharp is a Performance Improvement Specialist at the Public Health Foundation (PHF). At the Kane County Health Department in Aurora, IL, she led the development and operation of performance management and quality improvement programs and systems, and was Accreditation Coordinator for the department’s...