Evaluating the Multi-State Learning Collaborative

Abstract

The third phase of the Multi-State Learning Collaborative (MLC) is a 3-year Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative designed to build quality improvement capacity within state and local health departments. This commentary provides a brief overview of the MLC, a methodological description of its evaluation, and preliminary findings. Major evaluation data sources include quarterly reports, surveys, case studies, and key informant interviews. Preliminary survey data and quarterly reports from year 1 provide some early evidence that states are progressing toward MLC goals. Approximately 27 percent of local health departments in the 16 participant states report that they have begun to prepare for national accreditation and approximately 39 percent report implementation of at least one quality improvement project within the past 12 months. Ongoing data collection efforts are underway to more fully address the evaluation questions.

Defining and Assessing Quality Improvement Outcomes: A Framework for Public Health

“…Many studies documented the process of QI, including workforce development, 27,28 establishing a culture or environment conducive to QI, 12,29-31 integrating QI within a broader framework, 20,32,33 or describing QI implementation. 17-19,34-37 Other articles referred to QI outcomes without specifying them.…”

“…5,8,12 However, in the early stages of QI efforts, public health agencies may not yet be able to detect improvements in these outcomes. Therefore, we included a range of outcomes to highlight more immediate QI successes.…”

“…Tools, such as the National Public Health Performance Standards, and initiatives, such as the Turning Point Performance Management Collaborative and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation–supported Multi-State Learning Collaborative, represent some of the earliest efforts that encouraged health departments to adopt performance management and QI methods as a strategy to strengthen public health systems. 10-12 …”

“…6,12,17-21 However, conceptualizing and assessing outcomes resulting from the implementation of public health QI has proven challenging, in large part because of the diversity of public health contexts 12,20 and the scarcity of evidence-based measurement methods. 5,22,23 Only recently have researchers and practitioners begun to describe or assess outcomes of public health QI in a way that has the potential to demonstrate the impact of this work on public health organizations and the public health system more broadly.…”

Creating A Framework For Getting Quality Into The Public Health System

“…A timely example is the Multistate Learning Collaborative, a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which focuses on quality improvement in state and local health departments as preparation for agency accreditation. 47 Lessons learned through this collaborative can aid national efforts by building the capacity needed to advance quality in state and local agencies. Such progress demonstrates the value of quality to improving population-based services and outcomes, and it serves as a foundation to generate evidence-based standards for public health performance.…”