The Quality Improvement Experience in a High-Performing Local Health Department
Quality improvement in public health is a key element in the movement toward accreditation. Multiple national, state and local initiatives are under way to define quality in a public health context and to develop tools and promising practices to support quality-improvement efforts in local health departments. Until recently, efforts to improve quality at the local level have largely focused on performance measurement to assess the relationship between inputs, outputs and outcomes.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has developed its own unique approach to quality improvement. This approach includes focusing on three overlapping areas (professional practice, performance improvement and public health science) that align closely with essential public health services 8 (competent worker), 9 (evaluation) and 10 (research). Broadening the focus of quality-improvement efforts to include these three areas, rather than performance improvement alone, provides additional opportunities to address key infrastructure issues that may affect the quality of services that are provided to the public and, thus, health outcomes.
While the experience in Los Angeles County parallels other efforts, it includes unique elements that will be of use to public health professionals in other agencies.
Special Journal Issue Highlights Quality Improvement (QI) in Public Health
- 1. Quality Improvement in Public Health
- 2. Quality Improvement and Performance
- 3. Achieving a Culture of Quality Improvement
- 4. Defining Quality Improvement in Public Health
- 5. Opportunities to Advance Quality Improvement in Public Health
- 6. Supporting Public Health Departments' Quality Improvement Initiatives
- 7. The National Public Health Performance Standards
- 8. Taking Improvement Action Based on Performance Results
- 9. State Landscape in Public Health Planning and Quality Improvement
- 10. The Quality Improvement Experience in a High-Performing Local Health Department
- 11. Quality Improvement in Local Health Departments
- 12. Promoting Quality Improvement and Achieving Measurable Change
- 13. Evaluating the Multi-State Learning Collaborative
- 14. Driving Quality Improvement in Local Public Health Practice
- 15. Realizing Transformational Change Through Quality Improvement in Public Health
- 16. Quality Improvement and Accreditation