Root cause analysis

Clark County Health Department increased the percent of eligible families that are referred to Kentucky’s home visitation program for new and expectant parents from 24% to 56%. Evidence indicates that increased participation in this program will positively impact preterm birth rates, low and very...

This QI project used many QI tools to identify and design improvement actions to increase the redemption of food vouchers by WIC clients. While this project did not achieve the improvement target, , the development and application of tools could be helpful to other community health programs seeking...

The Harford County Health Department used QI to create a more welcoming environment for limited English proficiency populations by focused staff education, training, and standardization of processes, increasing the use translation services three fold.

Using Kaizen Rapid Improvement Event, Denver Public Health not only made the vaccine administrative process more efficient, but helped to ensure the appropriate vaccine and fund source was applied, thereby preserving scarce privately funded vaccines.

It has been shown that home visiting and other supportive services provided during pregnancy improve perinatal outcomes. Sullivan County Public Health Services used QI to improve its internal processes for reaching women with high-risk pregnancies, so more mothers and babies can have healthy...

Due to a variety of barriers, including inefficient flow of clients during WIC visits, eligible families were not engaging with WIC services. The clinics at this health department improved their processes and exceeded their initial goals, allowing many more families to be able to eat well and be...

A systematic 9- step approach to manage access to prenatal care was the key to improving access to medical exams within the first 2 weeks of a positive pregnancy test. This systematic approach removed previous barriers that caused a delay in the process from pregnancy testing to initial medical...

This mixed semi-urban and rural county had the lowest rate of kindergartners completely immunized in New York State (89%), with baseline data for the immunization rates among schools in the county ranging from 15.4% to 90%. The QI initiative aimed to improve the immunization rate for children...

The CT DPH innovatively improved its ability to collect and report sociodemographic information, so health disparities could be identified throughout the state and efforts could be taken to improve population health and better address health inequities.

Although located in an area with significant need for teen family planning services, a public health teen clinic in Spartanburg County had low rates of use. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control followed a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) approach and used QI tools to understand...

Even the implementation of evidence-based public health interventions poses challenges for most health departments. Using rapid-cycle tools and regular status monitoring, Cleveland County Health Department dramatically improved completion of the 5A’s smoking cessation service.

The Snohomish County Health Dept used QI on its immunization process.. By analyzing causes of error, introducing a new and standardized work flow, and using job aids that help to verify client records and data, the immunization error rate was reduced by over 50%.

By improving its grant application process, the Bethlehem Health Bureau increased the success rate of funded grant applications and increased the amount of grant funding received. The improved process now enables the organization to better meet the needs of the community it serves.

St. Croix County Public Health nurses were concerned that the time needed to complete required paperwork was taking them away from serving postpartum mothers and newborn babies. To put clients first, they conducted a quality improvement initiative that reduced the time for documentation by 37%....

Washington State Department of Health enhanced their ability to lower the risk of clients receiving substandard care in hospital settings. Using a Lean process, staff implemented a host of improvements to increase the rate of hospital inspections conducted within the state-mandated 18-month...

Compliance with required school immunizations rose after completion of a review of school immunization records was coupled with better methods of contacting parents. As a result, both children and the wider community experienced less spread of diseases.

Deschutes County Health Services improved the efficiency and accuracy of entering data on immunizations into the state immunization registry. The interventions tested included eliminating paperwork errors, balancing workload, and improving courier scheduling.

TPCHD sped its response time for solid waste complaints, resulting in greater protection of the public’s health, better customer service, and greater accountability to its community members.

By using quality planning to improve the effectiveness of community meetings, this small rural county increased community engagement and participation from 40 to 66% in the county-wide community health assessment and improvement planning process.

The county has a high percentage of overweight and obese children. Pleasant Street School staff implemented activities related to nutrition education in a school setting. Student knowledge about fruits and vegetables increased, and the school received additional funds to foster healthy eating.

Cumberland County Health Department achieved dramatic improvements in the quality of services offered by their Adult Health Clinic through a Kaizen event. Prescription refill wait times decreased from as long as 6 weeks to less than 72 hours, and referrals to specialists, many of which had lengthy...

The health department was concerned about a falling rate of visits by homeless people to the federally funded Health Care for Homeless project despite an increase in the homeless population. They investigated the causes and made several changes including implementing a process for walk-in service...

The state health department developed a training program for public health staff at the state and local levels to apply continuous quality improvement in their delivery of public health services, in turn resulting in better health outcomes for the people of North Carolina.

This local health department addressed an unacceptable rate of low birth weight births by standardizing their referral process and timeframes; successfully making pre-natal care referrals earlier in the gestation period to ultimately improve the health of newborns in their county.

By implementing more accurate Medicaid billing procedures that resulted in an increase in Medicaid match revenue, the local health department was able to re-direct funds to necessary departmental strategic priorities that benefit the health of the local community.

The health department needed all staff nurses to be able to give vaccinations for emergencies like the H1N1 influenza epidemic, including nurses working in roles that do not involve giving clinical care. They improved the process for keeping all nurses competent in determining when, how, and which...

The health department discovered that most of its employees were unaware of the many of the Department’s media activities for outreach and education. The department made several changes to increase employee awareness of current and new media efforts and achieved a major improvement on all three of...

The county health department used a QI planning approach to improve their planning processes for community meetings resulting in the community becoming more involved in improving its own health.