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NQC e-Newsletter |  Your expert guide to resources and technical assistance focusing on improving HIV care.

 

Greetings,      

 

Since the merger of HIVQUAL activities into NQC, many exciting opportunities have unfolded for grantees. As you will read in this issue, a new Regional Group has started in Nashville, TN and this opportunitybrings increased interest to this activity. NQC continues to encourage grantees that have thought about starting a Regional Group to contact NQC and discuss your particular needs and objectives.

 

You will also see in this issue a quality improvement-related job posting on our NQC Job Forum.  We encourage all grantees that have a quality manager position to fill to send us your job posting for our review and posting to our Job Forum. It's a no-cost service to grantees and another way that NQC can help grantees on their quality improvement journey.

 

Warm regards,

 

Clemens Steinbock

Director, National Quality Center

[email protected]

> In This Issue

> Upcoming Events | March - May
> NQC News | Nashville Regional Group: A Real Team Effort!
> NQC Reminder | Upcoming Trainings
> NQC News | in+care Update
> Real World Quality | Vatsana Chanthala
> Consumer Perspective: Maurice Evans
> NQC Coach Spotlight: Barbara Rosa
> Highlights from the NQC Collection | Moving from Causal Analysis to Testing and Measuring Interventions
> NQC News | Nashville Regional Group: A Real Team Effort!
 

HIVQUAL Regional Groups (RGs) continue to build momentum!  New RGs have been springing up for more than ten years. Through cross-Part collaborations, Ryan White grantees come together to promote HIV best practices and quality improvement through peer learning. RGs drive activities based on local needs and enhance coordination of HIV care and collaboration by local providers. More new groups have formed in just the last few months-the newest in Nashville, TN. This brings the total number of RGs nationwide to 23.

 

The Nashville Parts A, C, and D grantees held their first meeting on January 11, 2013. Each grantee led a key part of the agenda, helping to lay the foundation for the RG's future efforts. They took turns facilitating discussion to create the RG's charter, annual work plan, and selection of priority topics for the year. Consumers were active participants in the discussion. Nashville Part A staff at the table helped the RG craft its vision and plans and Part B staff were consulted closely in the RG's design and development. The Part C/D HRSA HAB Project Officer participated in the entire meeting via conference phone. Dan Sendzik, NQC Coach, facilitated the start-up process. A great team effort indeed!

 

Nashville RG members highlighted issues they want to address in the future. These include: improving linkage to and retention in care; improving adherence to therapy; and improving screening, vaccination, and treatment of hepatitis C. Group members also want to work together to hone their skills in using concrete QI tools such as flow charts; data presentation and graphing; and quality improvement project management. Better communicating the improvements they achieve is also a priority.

 

For more information about the Nashville HIVQUAL Regional Group, contact Dan Sendzik at [email protected].

 

For more information about HIVQUAL Regional Groups throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico | Darryl Ng, Director, HIVQUAL, [email protected]

NQC Reminder | Upcoming Trainings

NQC is pleased to announce two face-to face-trainings that will take place in the Spring of 2013.

  • Training of Quality Leaders (TQL), Atlanta, GA, April 23-25.
    The TQL Program provides participants the opportunity to enhance their own expertise in quality management, build the skills needed to work as facilitators to guide the development of sound quality management programs and/or quality improvement projects with impact on patient health outcomes, and develop group facilitation skills to better address team dynamics.

To apply l  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/23FGGZL

  • Training on Coaching Basics (TCB), Chicago, IL, May 13-15.
    The Training on Coaching Basics (TCB) Program aims to address the educational gaps of quality managers and to increase quality improvement competencies by building the quality improvement capacity of quality leaders to coach other HIV providers on quality improvement.

To apply  l  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LQWKDHQ

 

Space is limited for these trainings, so register early. More information can be found on the NQC website:
TQL - www.NationalQualityCenter.org/TQL and
TCB - www.NationalQualityCenter.org/TCB.


Questions? | Contact Kevin Garrett at [email protected] or 212.417 4730.

> NQC News | in+care Update 

 

"Patient Experience and Retention" is the in+care Campaign topic for March. Campaign staff are currently seeking organizations that have a strong patient experience evaluation program that goes beyond patient surveys. If you are interested in sharing your patient experience evaluation scheme through the in+care Campaign webinar, please contact Michael Hager at [email protected].

 

In addition, Campaign staff are working on putting together a combined Journal Club and Partners in+care presentation for March featuring the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Initiative (PCORI). PCORI is authorized by Congress to conduct research and provide information about the best practices designed to help patients and their health care providers make more informed decisions.

 

The in+care Campaign has recently improved its website at incareCampaign.org. It is now easier to find participant submitted strategies and tools and other useful items in the new "Campaign Tools and Strategies" tab. Campaign staff regularly add new materials to this page.

 

If you have a retention improvement strategy you would like to share through the Campaign, please visit the Campaign website and go to "Share Your Improvement Stories."

 

Learn more about the in+care Campaign and sign-up if you are not yet part of this national improvement effort | www.incareCampaign.org

> Real World Quality | Vatsana Chanthala 

 

It isn't often that NQC gets to assist in the recovery from a natural disaster. According to Vatsana Chanthala, MPH, quality manager for the New Orleans Part A, NQC provided valuable assistance as she rebuilt the EMA's quality management infrastructure following Hurricane Katrina.

 

"The NQC provided a roadmap to follow," says Vatsana. "There was so much that needed to be done and working with the NQC helped me to assist in the building of a comprehensive quality management system. Not only did we rebuild the system but we added to it and improved it."

 

Vatsana uses the skills and strategies she learned at a NQC Training-of-Trainers (TOT) session when working with both providers and consumers. She provides regular quality-related trainings and technical support to providers in the EMA, often using tutorials from the NQC Quality Academy. The skills Vatsana acquired from NQC are being used beyond the Ryan White program. Vatsana is playing an active role in the City of New Orleans Health Department Quality Council, which is in the process of obtaining accreditation with the Public Health Accreditation Board.

 

In addition, she has trained consumers to assist with the EMA's annual customer satisfaction survey, which was done electronically for the first time last year. Consumers were involved in every aspect of the survey, from developing the questions to assisting other consumers with completing the survey on their phones. "Consumers view it as an opportunity to give back to the system," says Vatsana. "They feel it is important to help other consumers."

 

Since she participated in the TOT Program, Vatsana has remained in touch with NQC staff, relying on them as a resource.

 

"It has been extremely helpful to have continued contact and support from NQC," says Vatsana. They are a valuable resource for developing and refining quality management for health services to the HIV community."

> Consumer Perspective: Maurice Evans

 

"I'm on the block connecting with people," says Maurice Evans, a CareLink network navigator for a SPNS-funded project of the Multnomah County HIV Service Clinic and the Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) in Portland, Oregon. "I reach out to people who need to be engaged. I do what it takes to get them in care."

 

The project uses a medical model designed to help homeless and other high-risk consumers remain in care. As a network navigator, Maurice is a member of the care team and assists consumers in accessing a variety of services (e.g., housing, mental health) and with adherence.

 

"As a consumer myself, I have overcome many of the barriers facing consumers. I know how frustrating it can be trying to access services," says Maurice. "It is important for other consumers to be there and to support the people who need help."

 

In his work with consumers, Maurice has relied heavily on NQC resources designed to support patient self-management and adherence. He also has worked with NQC staff when putting together presentations-getting help with identifying sources of information and technical assistance on how to effectively present data.

 

In addition, Maurice attended NQC's pilot version of the Training of Consumers on Quality (TCQ) workshop, which was held in June 2012. The training focused on increasing consumer involvement in quality improvement-related activities. Since attending the training, Maurice has joined the Multnomah County Quality Management Task Force.

 

"Consumers bring fresh ideas to the table," says Maurice. "Providers and policymakers don't know what it is like to be a consumer. I can give voice to what my clients are experiencing."

> NQC e-Newsletter | Volume 6 | Issue 57 | March 2013

Quick Links

  

> Upcoming Events | February - May

March 15 | in+care Campaign | Improvement Update Submission Deadline

March 15 | Training of Consumers for Quality Introductory Webinar

March 21 | National TA Call | Moving from Causal Analysis to Testing and Measuring Interventions

April 1 | in+care Campaign | Campaign Data Submission Deadline

April 23-25 | Training of Quality Leaders (TQL) l Atlanta, GA
May 13-15 | Training on Coaching Basics (TCB) l Chicago, IL 

> NQC Coach Spotlight: Barbara Rosa 

 

In addition to our staff, NQC has a team of highly qualified improvement experts who serve as coaches and are available to work with Ryan White grantees to address their quality improvement needs. When you face challenges, think of our coaches and what they can offer. Below we profile one of the many coaches available to Ryan White grantees.

 

Barbara Rosa joined the coaching team in 2000. She provides technical assistance to 45 Ryan White grantees from all Parts in eight states and facilitates six Regional Groups in the western and pacific region of the US. She was lead faculty for the HAB-sponsored New TGA Quality Initiative in 2008-09. Barbara has presented at every Ryan White Grantee Meeting since 2004, as well as at many other local and regional conferences and webinars. She has provided program and quality management technical assistance to over 250 FQHCs since 1993 and continues as an on-site reviewer for the Bureau of Primary Health Care.

 

She has over 25 years of experience in managing and directing ambulatory services at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and University of California at San Francisco Medical Center and at hospital-based multi-ethnic clinics in San Francisco and Oakland. She has been involved with HIV services since 1984, developing and managing HIV clinics and services in San Francisco in the early days of the epidemic.

 

Barbara received her Master's of Science and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner certification from a combined program at Boston College and Harvard Medical School and was the first nurse at the University of Massachusetts to be formally appointed to the faculty as an instructor in Pediatrics.

 

Her recent focus has been helping providers see the synergy between the various initiatives impacting health care and delivery systems, such as Patient Centered Medical Home and Meaningful Use, as they relate to federal grant requirements and the goals of NQC. 

> Highlights from the NQC Collection | Moving from Causal Analysis to Testing and Measuring Interventions

 

Quality improvement activities that build on performance measurement can result in very tangible benefits for a provider. These benefits include:

  • Improved patient care
  • Greater employee satisfaction
  • More efficient processes
  • Opportunities to reduce costs
  • Ability to meet the regulatory requirements for state and federal grants

In a time of shrinking resources, measurement of clinical performance can help to focus staff and resources to the most effective interventions. NQC has resources designed to help providers identify and quantify the critical aspects of care within their facilities.

 

National TA Conference Call

Moving from Causal Analysis to Testing and Measuring Interventions

March 21, 3:00 - 4:30 pm ET

This call will build on our call from February 2013 which focused on using process tools to improve. The call will be led by NQC Coach Nanette Brey Magnani and will also offer examples from grantees around the country. At the end of this call, grantees will be able to:

  • Use causal analysis results to inform their selection of interventions
  • Understand the steps in PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act) approach with grantee examples
  • Analyze and discuss examples of other grantees' PDSAs
  • Identify next steps for these grantee examples and discuss what your next improvement steps will be

To register | Click here

 

As part of our newly expanded National Technical Assistance (TA) Calls, NQC is now suggesting that grantees review these resources before the upcoming TA Call. This will help you to frame questions for our presenters and enhance your learning experience.

 

Past TA Calls (click the title to access the webinar)

Quality Academy Tutorial 13: PDSA Cycles

This tutorial focuses on the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Cycle. The tutorial covers:

  • Importance of accelerating change
  • PDSA Cycle
  • Concrete examples and tips on how best to apply the PDSA Cycle
  • Additional resources

The tutorial is available in both English and Spanish.

 

Measuring Clinical Performance: A Guide for HIV Health Care Providers

 

This step-by-step guide describes the processes on how to select a quality of care indicator, defining a measurement population and measure, creating a data collection plan, analyzing data, and planning quality improvement activities. This publication helps HIV health care providers to:

  • Define areas of excellence within a facility or system
  • Identify target areas for improvement
  • Determine whether improvement efforts yield measurable improvements in patient care
  • Design improvement work to improve patient care and employee satisfaction, make processes more efficient, reduce costs, and improve competitiveness for grant funding

 

> Job Announcement: Quality Improvement Coordinator for the Acacia Network

  

Acacia Network (formerly Promesa, Inc and BASICS) is one of the leading social service agencies serving New York City, NY. Acacia Network is seeking a Quality Improvement Coordinator to manage and coordinate efforts to ensure that quality improvement and performance management initiatives and programs are developed and managed using a data-driven focus that sets priorities for improvements and are aligned with organizational strategic aims. In addition, the Quality Improvement Coordinator will develop quality improvement and performance management initiatives that are focused on improving operational and program efficiencies and effectiveness; provide leadership for quality improvement and performance improvement projects and coordination for improving the organization's functions and evaluating the impact that systems improvements have on program functioning.

 

For more information and to check out our Job Forum | Click here  

National Quality Center

New York State Department of Health

AIDS Institute

90 Church Street, 13th floor

New York, NY 10007-2919

Phone | 212.417.4730

Fax | 212.417.4684

Email | [email protected] 

  

Sharing, Training, Consulting.

Improving HIV Care.

> About Us

 

We provide no-cost, state-of-the-art technical assistance to all Ryan White Program-funded grantees to improve the quality of HIV care nationwide.  

 

Send questions, comments, or suggestions | [email protected]  

 

This e-Newsletter is produced by the National Quality Center, a quality improvement initiative funded through a cooperative agreement with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau. For more information | NationalQualityCenter.org  

 

To join our mailing list click here  


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