Overview
A Quality Improvement Collaborative is a short-term learning program that brings together teams from multiple sites for improvements in specific area. The goal is to raise the bar on Quality Improvement skills of providers and organizations serving vulnerable older adults and children impacted by poverty across western and central New York.
Our work in Quality Improvement began in 2005, and since then, we have conducted seven Quality Improvement Collaboratives. Of the seven, six aimed to improve the health and well-being of frail elders; three focused on improving care transitions and three addressed falls prevention. One Collaborative, The Right Start, targeted the social, emotional and behavioral well-being of young children in poverty.
In 2008 we partnered with P2 Collaborative of western New York to develop and implement a Fundamentals of QI and Improving Care and Caring in Western New York workshop, which we held in 2010.
To better understand QI from a national perspective, we commissioned a white paper in 2009 to explore expanding the Quality Improvement Collaborative approach to improving the quality of health care and services for older adults and young children living in poverty in our regions. Key conclusions and recommendations from the paper guided us as we further developed our QI work.
Results
To examine the impact of the Collaboratives, we commissioned an independent evaluation that focused on three Care Transitions Collaboratives and the Right Start.
Results of this evaluation showed that overall, the Collaboratives successfully fostered team achievement, sustainability and spread of best practices among participating organizations.
