Blog

The Action Plan is a common step on the road to accreditation. Using quality improvement (QI) principles and tools, PHF can provide many types of support to help health departments needing Action Plans to achieve accreditation. This is just one of the ways that PHF supports accreditation preparation....

A Tale of Three Cities on the Journey to Accreditation

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

September 18, 2015

What do the health departments in Ann Arbor (MI), Missoula (MT), and New Orleans (LA) have in common? They each approached the Public Health Foundation (PHF) in 2012 on their journey to accreditation. They had unique needs, timelines, resources, and experiences. Yet each benefited from using the Plan-Do-Check-Act...

Engage Reluctant Staff in Accreditation

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

September 9, 2015

The authors from the Alabama Department of Public Health include Carol Heier, Performance Improvement Manager/Accreditation Coordinator; Valerie Cochran, Assistant Nursing Director; and Annie Vosel, Director of the Division of Women's and Children's Health and Title X Family Planning. Achieving...

Recapping a Year in the Field

Posted in: Data Analysis, Infrastructure, Performance Management and Quality Improvement, PHF News, Strategic Planning, and Workforce Development

August 5, 2015

It has been a busy year for our Public Health Foundation (PHF) experts who deliver Performance Improvement (PI) Services in performance management, quality improvement (QI), and workforce development. They covered a lot of ground, providing customized on-site technical assistance (TA) and training in...

How Can You Communicate the Benefits of Quality Improvement to Leadership and Staff?

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

June 4, 2015

Russ Rubin is Director of Strategic Communication at the Public Health Foundation. As you are well aware, improving the public’s health is no small feat. Using quality improvement (QI) tools and techniques to help achieve this goal takes time, planning, organization, participation, and often conflict,...

Why are They Stomping in Frederick, MD?

Posted in: Infrastructure, and Performance Management and Quality Improvement

March 25, 2015

Barbara A. Brookmyer, MD, MPH is Health Officer for Frederick County, Maryland. She previously served as Deputy Health Officer on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Somerset County and Dorchester County. While working for the Health Resources and Services Administration, she developed policies to increase...

Stuck in a Rut? Take a Look Through the Nine Windows

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvementby Sonja Armbruster

March 19, 2015

Sonja Armbruster, MA works for Wichita State University’s Center for Community Support and Research. She is a Quality Improvement Expert for the Public Health Foundation. The definition of insanity—“doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”—is so common it is considered...

Accountability Reexamined – The "New" Accountability

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

March 11, 2015

Harry Lenderman, EdD is a Quality Improvement Expert for the Public Health Foundation. Use of the word “accountability” seems to have evolved from traditional views. Traditionally, we find ways to “hold people accountable.” This article presents an alternative view in the context of quality improvement...

Charting a New Way Forward: Washoe County’s Experience with a Fundamental Review of the Health District

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

December 16, 2014

Kevin Dick is the Washoe County District Health Officer in Reno, Nevada. In April 2013, I was appointed interim Health Officer of the Washoe County Health District. The Health District, like many, was experiencing years of declining revenue and deficit spending. Our position was unsustainable and,...

How Do We Instill a Culture of Quality Improvement in Our Organization?

Posted in: Performance Management and Quality Improvement

October 3, 2014

John W. Moran, PhD is a Senior Quality Advisor to the Public Health Foundation (PHF), a Senior Fellow at the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health in the Division of Health Policy and Management, and faculty member of the CDC/IHI Antibiotic Stewardship project 2011-2012. He also serves as...