Clinical Quality and Disease Management
The Neighborhood Health Care
Network’s quality programs are focused on increasing patient access to primary health care and
improving the health status of underserved and vulnerable populations. Neighborhood
Health Care Network does this by working
with its member clinics and other partners to
improve quality and service delivery, and by sharing best practices among its membership.
Some of the services provided by the Network include:
- Patient satisfaction surveys. A patient satisfaction survey is conducted
each year with 12 member clinics, providing
valuable feedback to clinic managers and staff. The 2007 survey, distributed at 23 sites
in four languages, found that 94% of clinic
patients indicated they would recommend
their clinic to family and friends.
- Facilities standards review.
Neighborhood Health Care Network conducts
on-site reviews for each of its member
clinics, examining policies and practices for each and comparing their performance with
current community and Joint Commission
standards. In 2007, six Neighborhood Health
Care Network clinics were reviewed according
to key accreditation standards. The clinics
were shown to be doing very well in areas
such as availability of interpreter services,
communication by leadership, awareness of
disaster procedures, licensure, documentation
on medical records and more. Areas that
needed improvement were clearly delineated,
so clinics can better their performance.
- Quality improvement initiatives.
Neighborhood Health Care Network has developed common measures for clinical
outcomes, provided regulatory compliance
training and provided specialized quality
expertise to member clinics for individual improvement
projects. Monthly Quality Forums
for member clinic staff offer free education
and professional interaction on timely medical
and clinical topics, from trends in sexually
transmitted disease rates in Minnesota to best practices for blood lead level monitoring.
For more information on this business area, please contact:
Mary Larweck, Director of Quality Improvement at mary.larweck@nhcn.org
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