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The Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health (CGCDPH) used PDSA to improve its process for applying for grants and involving all staff in understanding the process.

Lorain County Public Health (LCPH) used QI to improve the efficiency of its prenatal/newborn home visiting performance management system, with the result of freeing time that nurses could devote to providing the service, while also improving the quality and utility of the information provided.

Charting errors increased in Scott County Health Department's (SCHD's) STD clinic when a new electronic database was introduced. Anticipating the transition to the new database, the STD team implemented a QI effort to identify and correct problems with the charting process before they...

The Boston Public Health Commission worked across departmental areas to improve the invoice payment process for their vendors. Timely payment contributes to improved relationships with these partners to collectively meet the community's health needs.

Lake Cumberland District Health Department (LCDHD) in Kentucky receives grant funding for several program activities, and staff realized that it was not unusual for different divisions to apply for the same grant. A QI committee used QI tools to address this issue. New policies and procedures have...

Butte County Public Health Department (BCPHD) in California used QI to expedite the annual medical review (AMR) process for eligibility into the California Children's Services (CCS) program. More children and their families now have improved access to these specialty health care services.

Through a series of PDSA cycles, a division of the Boston Public Health Commission increased staff knowledge of ongoing program updates from 69% to 86% (a 25% increase).

By improving the perceived value of staff meetings, the Boston Public Health Commission can be more effective in its role to advance population health.

Missoula City-County Health Department in Montana drastically increased its reach to clients who are eligible for its Health Services programs by improving program referral processes for existing clients. As a result, the health department can much better serve eligible women, infants, and children.

Kansas Health Institute (KHI) strengthened their ability to share information with clients by increasing the efficiency of its publication process and reducing staff stress associated with it.

By using the Six Sigma DMAIC method, Lake County Health Department streamlined their billing process for the Dental Program. This change resulted in a significant decrease in lost revenue, from an average of $5,354 per quarter down to an average of $2,076. The quarterly losses decreased steadily...

The Florida Department of Health in Seminole County (DOH-Seminole) improved the timeliness of filing Client Service Records (CSRs), positively affecting customer service and access to care.

Cerro Gordo Health Department decreased fear levels of bed bug exposure among field staff. The implementation of a risk reduction plan minimized staff discomfort and facilitated a more effective intervention to bed bug exposure in the community.

Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health (CGCDPH) worked to improve immunization rates for both types of pneumococcal vaccine recommended for seniors. Through a multifaceted approach that emphasized increased awareness of the vaccine, CGCDPH raised the rate of immunizations with the newest...

By using Kaizen, Cabarrus Health Alliance (CHA) in North Carolina reduced food establishment violations by 22% and further protected residents from foodborne illness.

Harford County Health Department (HCHD) in Maryland increased the percentage of morbidity reports for chlamydia submitted by county health care providers, thus facilitating improved trend monitoring, ensuring proper treatment, and ultimately helping to reduce the spread of disease.

Developing effective public health communications via social media is very much a work in progress. One critical success factor is the ability to converse with a broader audience and to create messages that allow interaction between the messenger and the audience. During the test phase of Kane...

Mobile food units (MFUs) in Houston, Texas, now experience a faster, more efficient inspection process thanks to a Kaizen event held by Houston Health Department. The average time to complete the physical inspection and administrative paperwork has decreased from 3 hours to 30 minutes. Moreover,...

For health department services that have a major impact on citizens, ensuring high client satisfaction is important to the public’s understanding and support for these services. Three state health departments teamed together to improve the timeliness of death data, using the Kaizen method for...

Health Alert Network (HAN) messages provide vital public health information to the community’s health care providers, schools, churches, day care centers, and so on. The RiverStone Health team used a 5-day Kaizen event to improve the HAN process, create job keys, involve more staff, and decrease...

Working together, the Tulare County Public Health Department’s tuberculosis (TB) team and nurses increased the on-time completion rates from 80% to 100% for referrals of suspected TB cases. The QI project resulted in a newly defined and consistent work process that improved communications and team...

This medium-size local health department improved and standardized the effectiveness of environmental health (EH) plan reviews for new restaurant establishments. The QI team used Kaizen and Lean Six Sigma methods and tools to successfully reduce the EH plan review approval time frame from 30 days...

Henry County Health Department’s (HCHD’s) strategic plan included addressing employee turnover and job dissatisfaction. Employee turnover and job satisfaction are related to how confident an employee feels when starting a new position, which links back to the effectiveness of the orientation...

Taking the bite out of labor intensive reporting and delays though community collaboration and use of QI tools and methods to increase the number of animal bite reports submitted to the health department in a timely fashion.

The Rhode Island Department of Health improved the timeliness of data entry for early intervention (EI) services which enhanced appropriate and prompt preventive health services and follow-up care. Delayed entry of Individual Family Service Plans (IFSPs) by outside agencies into the KIDSNET system...

When a rabies susceptible animal has bitten a human, it is imperative that health departments responsible for the investigation and quarantine of these animals respond a timely manner. A local health department in Oregon used a PDSA approach to reduce the time to process rabies bites reports by 29...

Reducing adolescent tobacco use is a priority for Tooele County Health Department (TCHD) in Utah. Staff recognized the need to improve tobacco compliance check pass rates and identified that clerks who possess a valid permit were less likely to sell tobacco products to minors. TCHD used quality...

Using quality improvement to raise community awareness of the importance of annual private well water testing increased the number of tests performed, assuring a safe water supply for county residents all done without increasing processing costs!

Johnson County Department of Health and Environment used a kaizen event to improve the supply ordering process cycle time and increased the order placement and delivery accuracy for all programs in the department. The results included decrease in cycle time – total ordering process time per order...

By streamlining their internal computer drive, creating an internal framework for its use/upkeep, and training staff on the efficient and effective use of the computer drive, the Three Rivers District Health Department has increased staff productivity.

WIC coupons for use at famer’s markets are a precious resource for improving nutrition and reducing food hunger in low-income families, as well as supporting local farmers. Deschutes County Health Department noted a decreasing trend of redemption, which meant a literal wasting of coupons that other...

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene partnered with its local health departments and WIC clinics to increase the number of WIC clients referred to and receiving appropriate services to meet their needs.

A local health department in Washington was not able to serve all of the WIC-eligible clients in its jurisdiction. Process mapping led to three aims for increasing efficiency to make time for new clients: (1) Decreasing the average percentage of no-show appointments; (2) Increasing the WIC...

Home visiting programs are an important intervention to improve the health of women and children, but they are generally done in programmatic silos. A state health department used QI to improve the process and systematically address both chronic disease and environmental health risk factors...

Enforcement of food safety regulations plays a significant role in preventing food borne illness outbreaks. A local health department used the Lean method to increase efficiencies, standardize the process and reduce staff time and other costs for the administrative hearing process that enforces...

Inadequate documentation of policies and procedures is not just a hassle; it can also create confusion and redundancies that bog down staff’s ability to provide effective public health services and programs to the community. A small, rural local health department used quality improvement methods...

A large county health department used effective data gathering, analysis, and interpretation with PDSA to enable increased WIC caseloads that in turn decreased the number of negative health outcomes among low-income mothers and their families who had not been receiving WIC benefits.

This big city health department used QI to improve their intake processes and obtained dramatic results in connecting the highest risk people with substance use disorders to existing city services, which in turn results in improved outcomes for individuals who are homeless, have co-occurring health...

The Prentiss County Health Department and Mississippi State Department of Health partnered on a project to reduce wait time in their WIC clinics, reassign staff as needed on higher traffic days, and provide customer service training to frontline staff to assure greater satisfaction and...

Using QI Tools and PDSA leads to significant improvement in the standardization of Final Inspection Reports.

Tuberculosis is difficult to eradicate, it can have devastating health impacts, and one active TB case can result in budget-breaking expenses for small-to-medium local health jurisdictions. A local health department in Washington state implemented a quality planning and quality improvement project...

The tribal health department used QI to increase the number of parents using car child seats correctly from 30 to 65% using new dramatic visual presentations and enhanced car safety seat installation demonstrations. This will save children’s lives and reduce auto related injuries.

In an effort to improve customer satisfaction, Carroll County General Health District embarked upon a QI project to decrease waiting time in the reproductive health clinic. Their aim for a 10% reduction in waiting time was nearly achieved by taking a novel approach to addressing the identified...

The Specialty Care clinic at the Florida Department of Health in Seminole County sought to notify clients more quickly of the results from their tests at the sexually transmitted disease clinic. A QI project led to implementation of a confidential no-reply text messaging system which resulted in...

A local health department increased early enrollment of pregnant women in smoking cessation programs to reduce risks of pregnancy complications, premature delivery, and their infants being low-birth weight, stillborn, or dying from SIDS.

In order to simplify and standardize its formal contracts (numbering over 200) with the seven local health districts in Idaho, which led to great frustration and wasted time by both local and state staff in processing multiple different forms for contracts, the Idaho Division of Public Health used...

Taking the whoop out of a Pertussis outbreak and enhancing a community's pertussis mitigation effort by using improved early identification and isolation outcomes methods to decrease the number of days between onset and the report of disease.

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.