Celebrating 12 years of leading innovations across the Ryan White community.

 

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

 

As we move into Spring, NQC has been busy welcoming this time of renewal.  We are pleased to announce the opening of the 2016 NQC Quality of Care Award application period.  Every year we ask recipients to submit nominations for programs or individuals that have achieved outstanding results through their quality improvement efforts.  NQC encourages you to apply so you can be recognized for your commitment to clinical quality management.
 
Also occurring this month is the release of our first consumer-focused online tutorial, which is added to our Quality Academy.  NQC used its available resources as well as input from our consumer coaches and our NQC Consumer Advisory Board to develop a tutorial on consumer self-management.  This tutorial is applicable to not only consumers but also to providers.  As you will see, there is a new paradigm in the provider-consumer relationship and this resource is a "must see" for you and your program. 
 
We have included the next impact report on Regional Groups linking participation of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program recipients in these peer learning communities to advanced clinical quality management programs.

Regards,  

Clemens Steinbock
Director, National Quality Center

> This Issue
In This Issue...
> NQC Offering | Take the NQC QI Challenge
> NQC Update | Impact Report on Advanced Quality Improvement Trainings
> NQC Announcement | The 2016 Quality Awards
> Consumer Perspective | Terral Ewing
> National TA Webinar | Consumer and Provider Shared Decision-Making in Health Care: February 18
> NQC Offering |  2016 Quality Awards: Nominations Due April 1
  
March is the month to make sure the quality champions in your organization and community get recognized! Now is the time to submit nominations for NQC's 2016 Quality Awards. Don't let these quality champions and programs go unrecognized!
 
Do you know of a person or organization that should be recognized for their quality-related work? Maybe your own program has some impressive accomplishments. Please take some time and help us recognize the quality champions in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) community.
 
Each year, NQC and HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) recognize the work of RWHAP recipients and consumers that have shown either exemplary performance or leadership in some aspect of clinical quality management. NQC seeks recipients, staff, and consumers who have made exceptional improvements in the quality of HIV care in any of the following categories:
  • Award for Measurable Improvements in HIV Care
  • Award for Sustainable Clinical Quality Management Program
  • Award for Leadership in Quality
  • Award for Consumer Engagement in Quality Improvement
 
The deadline for nominations is April 1. If you have someone or a program in mind, please take the time to nominate them so that they may get the recognition they deserve.
 
To apply or to learn more about past winners | http://nationalqualitycenter.org/qualityawards/
> NQC Offering | NQC Launches New Quality Academy Consumer Tutorial 

NQC is pleased to announce the Quality Academy's new Consumer Track. For many years, NQC has been training consumers around the country to effectively engage in quality improvement-related activities. This next step takes our in-person training and other consumer-related resources to a whole new level-consumers will be able to access training on key consumer-focused topics online and at any time.
 
Over time, the Consumer Track will be comprised of multiple tutorials to assist consumers in developing the skills necessary to become effective participants in clinical quality management activities with a Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program recipient or subrecipient. The first tutorial addresses building the skills necessary to be better self-managers in regards to HIV treatment. Future tutorials will focus on building clinical quality management knowledge and skills.
 
The initial tutorial will be available on March 18, 2016.
 
Check out this and other online tutorials | http://nationalqualitycenter.org/nqc-activities/qualityacademy/
>  NQC Update | Impact Report on HIVQUAL Regional Groups

As part of our ongoing Impact Report series, NQC is pleased to release the findings of the impact report on our HIVQUAL Regional Groups. The impact reports are prepared by JSI, Inc. They helped us assess our performance and our accomplishments, just as we ask RWHAP recipients to do on a regular basis.
 
Regional groups are designed to enhance the capacity for quality improvement (QI) through peer learning and sharing, improve HIV care at the agency level, advance local clinical quality management (CQM) programs, and improve coordination of care and the ability of local providers to work together on QI activities. Overall, participants in these groups showed improvement in the following areas:
  • Improvement in quality of relationship across RWHAP Part funding;
  • Increase in quality of patient care at the clinic level;
  • Promotion of participants' role as quality leaders in their home agency; and
  • Increase in support systems within regional groups.
 
Of particular importance is the impact of participation in a regional group on patient outcomes. The impact report found that Regional Group participants had better performance on in+care Campaign measures.
  • Regional Group participants demonstrated statistically significant improvements on key performance measures; the viral load suppression rate increased from 71% to 78% (n=99) from December 2011 through December 2013
  • Participants in Regional Groups had a higher percentage of clients with viral suppression compared to non-Regional Group participants
  • Regional Group members had a higher capacity for clinical quality management than non-Regional Group participants using the NQC Organizational Assessment
  • By 2014, 96% of Regional Groups worked on QI projects related to retention or viral load suppression, suggesting alignment with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy
  • The Regional Group model has been widely accepted by the RWHAP community; in 2014, 257 RWAHP recipients participated in 25 active Regional Groups, representing more than 43% of all RWHAP recipients
 
To learn more about Regional Groups | Click here

> Mar. 2016 | Issue 82 | Vol 6 
Quick Links

  

> NQC 10-Year Anniversary
Milestones and Highlights

Tell us how NQC has helped you!

> Upcoming Events | March

 

Mar. 17  l  Health Care Stories Project

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 protected]

 

Improving HIV Care.
>  Consumer Perspective | Vini Johns

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."
 
This quote from Dr. Seuss is the tag line on Vini Johns' email and it reflects his approach to his job as a HIV peer navigator at New Horizon Family Health Services in Greenville, South Carolina. New Horizon has a caseload of about 1,200 HIV-infected individuals. Vini helps them access the services they need.
 
There wasn't always a patient navigator position at New Horizons. When Vini moved to South Carolina in 2013, he looked for ways to get involved in his new community. He became a member of New Horizon's client advisory board. The board suggested hiring a patient navigator. When the position was established, Vini applied for the job.
 
"Before I moved to South Carolina I didn't realize I had a voice," says Vini. "Not only did I have a voice, it was heard and acted on."
 
While he helps consumers negotiate care, Vini sees his role as much more. Helping consumers to feel comfortable and address stigma are a major part of his job.
 
"I tell every patient I meet that they are family and that I am going to treat them as family-we are going to share this experience," says Vini. "It is the most amazing thing to see how my assistance helps them in so many ways. Many of my peers do not talk about their status. They feel very stigmatized. To talk to someone who is open about their status changes their life."
 
Vini attended an NQC Training of Consumers on Quality in October 2015. While for him, some of the information had already been covered in his training as a peer educator, he acknowledges how important it is to provide this information to other consumers.
 
"I learned that there is an organization out there that focuses on training consumers to become more involved in their care," says Vini. "There are resources out there that I can share with them."
 
The training also linked Vini to other NQC resources, such as the Quality Academy. He tries to complete a module once a month to further increase his knowledge and skills.
  >  National TA Webinar | Health Stories Project
 
There is great interest and continued need for better patient involvement in quality improvement (QI) in clinical settings. As a response, the Healthcare Stories Project (HCSP) was launched by the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute in New York's HIV primary care facilities. HCSP is devised using evidence-based program theory to enhance patients' roles in QI through raising awareness about how patients experience 'quality of care' on their terms, and actively engaging them in aspects of QI. In this month's webinar we will discuss this project and its implications for your facilities.
 
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Meeting information
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Topic: March TA Webinar l Health Stories Project - the User Visit
Date: Thursday, March 17, 2016
Time: 3:00 pm, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00)
Meeting Number: 649 373 999
Meeting Password: nqctacall123
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To start or join the online meeting
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Go to https://meetny.webex.com/meetny/j.php?MTID=me8a69dc463a38edd2675b49d9e1fad87
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Audio conference information
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1. Provide your number when you join the meeting to receive a call back. Alternatively, you can call one of the following numbers: Local: 1-518-549-0500; Toll Free: 1-844-633-8697
Alternate Toll Free - (For callers not able to call the 844 Toll Free Number): 1-866-776-3553
2. Follow the instructions that you hear on the phone.
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> 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.  

 

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This document is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number U28HA041321200. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.