PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT ~ Moving
Moving towards system performance improvement after the NPHPSP assessments
The NPHPSP performance assessments should provide system participants with
an understanding of the gaps between their current performance and the optimal
level of performance described by the standards. System partners can then
determine where the largest or most crucial gaps in performance are; these
are the areas
on which the action plan should focus.
The results should be incorporated into a broader planning process, such as
a community health improvement process such as MAPP, a state health improvement
process, or a local board of health strategic planning process.
If this type
of planning process is not underway, go to the "What Next?" section
of the NPHPSP User Guide for strategies and ideas for moving forward with performance
improvement efforts. The Resources link also provides useful information.
Depending on which assessments are used, different levels of improvement planning
may be needed:
- State / local system performance improvement planning - every responding
state or local public health system should conduct improvement planning. These
plans should be based both on the CDC quantitative reports, as well as on qualitative
ideas and comments that emerged during the assessment discussions. Improvement
strategies and areas for accountability should be identified for the public
health agency and system partners.
- Governance body improvement planning - governing entities
that undertake the governance assessment often use their results to develop
a strategic
plan for the board of health. To the extent possible, boards should work
with their
local health official and other agency staff to identify key areas and
strategies for improvement. If the local public health system assessment
was done, the
two sets of information can be quite insightful. In these cases, the
governance action plan should be coordinated with the system performance
improvement
plan.
- Statewide performance improvement planning - in states
where a coordinated statewide approach is used to implement multiple NPHPSP
assessments, the
statewide action plans should be developed. CDC provides statewide
aggregate reports
to states that use the local instrument in all or most local jurisdictions.
Another report is also available that summarizes both the state and
local data, if both instruments have been used.
Once improvement planning is underway, the action plans should be institutionalized
to assure that the performance continues at the higher levels.
Reassessments
every three to four years can aid in monitoring progress and identifying new
gaps that need to be addressed.
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