Chapter Six: Quality

Bozzone, Janet (author)
Lieberman, Martin (author)
Patterson, Allen E. (author)
Cottam, Wayne (author)
Doherty, Mark (author)
Drozdowski, Margaret (author)
Russell, Bob (author)
Wyatt, Dan (author)
Wolpin, Scott (author)
Curtis, Denice (author)
Schaffer, Rebecca (author)

Operations manual for health center oral health programs

2012

Health Centers strive to deliver quality care that leads to positive patient outcomes. In 1990, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) defined quality of care as "the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge."' Because of the pivotal role health care quality plays in service delivery, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) requires all Health Centers to regularly measure and improve the quality of care within their programs. This chapter explores two facets of an oral health quality program: quality assurance (QA) and quality improvement (QI). QA is a set of processes focused on the continual monitoring of health care delivery. QI builds on baseline data from QA processes to develop a data-driven plan focused on improvement in oral health care. Both QA and QI focus on measuring success by achieving goals over a period of time. While there are several models for quality improvement, this chapter focuses on two utilized by the HRSA/BPHC Health Disparities Collaboratives-the Chronic Care Model and the Model for Improvement. This chapter also emphasizes the importance of staying up-to-date with electronic dental record (EDR) developments and emerging health concepts, such as patient-centered health homes,* population-based care, and care integration and collaboration, as they will influence both the definition of quality, as well as improvement efforts. Several resources, tools, and links are also provided for oral health programs to implement or enhance their QI programs.

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