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Duke Urges Top Grantees to “Spread
the Good News” at Quality Meeting
HRSA celebrated the success of its grantees in achieving improved
health outcomes for their patients at a day-long meeting April 18
in Rockville, Md. After listening to grantees’ presentations,
HRSA Administrator Betty Duke said she was “extraordinarily
impressed” with their accomplishments and urged them to continue
building on their successes and to “figure out how we can
share the good and spread it beyond the walls of this room.”
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Listening and responding to action steps proposed by
HRSA grantees and staff are (left to right) health center
patient Bertucci Scott, HRSA Administrator Betty Duke and
CQ Director Denise Geolot. |
The meeting, “Celebrating
Quality at HRSA: An Event to Glean, Align, and Take Action,”
showcased HRSA grantees and their impressive results in improving
care for patients, specifically in the key areas of HRSA’s
clinical quality performance measures (see box at end of story).
Convened by HRSA’s Center for Quality (CQ), the meeting
was attended by more than 25 grantees from a diverse cross-section
of HRSA programs and the agency’s senior leaders. The
meeting format was designed with interactivity in mind using
panel discussions and audience participation to generate discussion,
enthusiasm and commitment to action. Participants focused
on developing answers to the question: “What can each
of us do to get more quality health care results?”
CQ Director Dr. Denise Geolot presented an overview of HRSA’s
quality strategy and CQ’s mission, followed by CQ’s
Senior Medical Advisor Dr. Deborah Willis-Fillinger, who described
the role of performance measurement in achieving quality care.
CQ Medical Officer Dr. Almed Calvo then talked about new aspects
of HRSA’s quality strategy, including the concept of
“DNA” – Decide, Notice, and Acknowledge
– as a method to increase quality (see blue box this
page).
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Throughout the day, grantees gave five-minute snapshots of their
program accomplishments. The first group talked about their work
in measuring performance, with each highlighting solid improvements
in health outcomes. Dr. Thomas MacKenzie of
Denver Health and Hospitals described their work to ensure pediatric
immunizations for one in three children in Denver.
Mario Drummonds with the Northern Manhattan Perinatal Project in
New York, a Healthy Start grantee serving 10,000 women, talked about
the dramatic rise in the number of women entering prenatal care
in the first trimester. The rate has grown from 25 percent in 1990
to 92 percent in 2004, Drummond said. One after another, grantees
from South Carolina, Kentucky, Nebraska, Arkansas and other states
told similar stories of success.
During the course of the meeting, attendees were asked to list
actions they plan to take to improve patient outcomes. More than
40 people committed to over 100 specific actions, a sampling of
which was read to a panel consisting of Dr. Duke, HRSA Senior Advisor
Steve Smith, Dr. Geolot and Bertucci Scott, a patient from PCC Wellness,
a health center in Chicago. The CQ will be hosting a similar event
in the fall.
Discussing quality improvements at the meeting are:
(l-r) HRSA's Lou Coccodrilli, Anne Camp of Fair Haven Community
Health Center in New Haven, Conn.; Steve Taplin of the National
Cancer Institute; and Elizabeth Magenheimer, Fair Haven CHC.
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Using
"DNA to get the Outcomes You Want...
Doug Krug, co-author of Enlightened
Leadership, explained the “DNA” concept featured
in the book to meeting participants: First, you consciously
DECIDE what you want to see more of in the world. Next, because
you have decided this and given thought to it, you will begin
to automatically NOTICE when more of this thing (whatever
it is) appears in your life and work. When you notice examples
of it, then you ACKNOWLEDGE and call attention to it in a
positive way. |
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June 2007 Inside HRSA (Acrobat/PDF)
