Our mission is to promote health, prevent disease and protect those who live, work, learn and play in Meeker, McLeod, and Sibley Counties, and we have a vision of healthier people with enhanced quality of life living in our communities.
What is Performance Management?
Performance management uses data for decision-making, by setting objectives, measuring and reporting progress toward those objectives, and engaging in quality improvement activities when desired progress toward those objectives is not being made.
Key Performance Management Questions
- Where do we want to be?
- How will we know?
- How well are we doing?
- How will we improve?
What is Quality Improvement?
Quality improvement is the use of a deliberate and defined improvement process and the continuous and ongoing effort to achieve measurable improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness, performance, accountability, outcomes, and other indicators of quality that improve the health of the community.
Quality Improvement Process
P=Plan
Step 1: Getting started
Step 2: Assemble the team
Step 3: Examine the current approach
Step 4: Identify potential solutions
Step 5: Develop an improvement theory
D=Do
Step 6: Test the theory for improvement
S=Study
Step 7: Use data to study the result
A=Act
Step 8: Standardize the improvement or develop a new theory
Step 9: Establish future plans
2023 Performance Management & Quality Improvement Team Training and Tracking
In 2023, all new MMS CHS Staff attended “Introduction to Performance Management” Training on the basics of quality improvement for public health practitioners. All MMS CHS staff attended two trainings taught by Susan Brace-Adkins from MDH on “Post-Covid Relaunch of Performance Management” in January and “Introduction to Quality Improvement” in July. As a team, we tracked these three measurements:
- % of staff who annually complete the “Get To Know You” form
- of new staff who complete the “Get To Know You” form within one month of hire
- of All-Staff sessions related to staff recovery and staff connectedness
Program Level Tracking: Healthy Homes with the goals:
- Complete 75 Healthy Homes Assessments by the end of the grant cycle
- Distribute mitigation materials and resources within 2 weeks of completing the assessment
- Complete 16 community outreach activities between January 12, 2022 and June 30, 2023
Program Level Tracking: Project Harmony with the goal:
- Increase the number of referred clients to the Project Harmony program
2022-23 Quality Improvement Projects
Project 1: Administrative Q1 Project Storyboard | All-Staff Attendance
Project Team: MMS CHS Management Team
Plan with Opportunities for Improvement: Increase the rate of attendance for staff attending the quarterly MMS CHS All-Staff meetings, because the Meeker-McLeod-Sibley Community Health Services (MMS CHS) Management Team identified a downward trend in attendance. Through the MMS CHS strategic plan, building a positive employee culture was identified as a strategic priority. Successful implementation of the strategic action plan depended on higher attendance rates at MMS CHS All-Staff meetings.
We’ll Do this with Quality Improvement Tools:
- Brainstorming
- Attendance Tracking Spreadsheet
- Personnel Policies
- Create Evaluations
- Establish Budget
Aim for 90% of staff will attend the quarterly CHS All-Staff meetings by implementing:
- Public Health Supervisors and Directors will send calendar invites to all staff
- Communication will go out to all staff informing them that CHS All-Staff meetings are to be a priority in their workday and if they cannot be at the meeting, they need to inform their direct supervisor
- Public Health Supervisors and Directors identified team members to create a WFD team
- Meaningful meetings from staff surveys
- Gather feedback regarding absences
Study Measurable Quality Improvement Outcomes:
All-staff attendance rates
- Oct 22: 82%
- Jan 23: 78%
- Apr 23: 85%
- May 23: 84%
Other QI outcomes
- Agenda topics align with the strategic plan
- Improved work culture
- Staff feel appreciated
- Increased opportunity for staff wellbeing event
Act on the Lessons Learned:
- Long-term leaves hinder the ability to reach the 90% attendance goal
- A team approach to planning provides for better meetings
- Some absences are out of our control – life happens
- When leaders are invested in the planning of All Staff, staff prioritize the meetings
Adopt, Adapt, or Abandon:
- Adopt: A team approach to planning
- Adopt: Evaluations
- Adopt: Track attendance
- Adapt: Redefine and excused vs unexcused absence
- Abandon: The expectation that everybody will always make a meeting
- Abandon: 90% expectation
Project 2: Project Harmony Quality Improvement Project Storyboard | Awareness & Participation
Project Team: Project Harmony Team
Plan with Opportunities for Improvement from July 2022-June 2023: Increase the exposure and awareness of the Project Harmony Program to gain more clients, because the Meeker-McLeod-Sibley Community Health Services (MMS CHS) identified that the Project Harmony program currently has low participation vs. pre-COVID 19 participation.
We’ll Do this with Quality Improvement Tools:
- Brainstorming
- Focus Groups
- Stakeholder Analysis
- Checklists
Aim to Increase Project Harmony program awareness, referrals, and participation by June 2023 by implementing:
- Meetings with stakeholders to discuss Project Harmony
- WIC Coordinators
- Integration Wellness and Recovery (and staff a part of all recovery meetings)
- Birthright (and staff is on their board)
- Distribution of Project Harmony flyers and cards
- Jails
- Hospitals and Clinics
- CPS Social Workers
- Common Cup Ministries programs (Diaper Distribution/Laundry Love)
- Recovery Centers (New Beginnings, Nystroms, Sobriety First)
- Attending events in the community
- Creating a social media presence via Project Harmony Facebook page and ads
Study Measurable Quality Improvement Outcomes:
Measurable outcomes
- 13 meetings were held with partners/stakeholders
- 341 locations received outreach posters
- 5 events were attended with outreach information
- 740 visitors to the MMS CHS Project Harmony webpage
- 4 Project Harmony webpage referral forms received
- 184,958 users reached via Facebook ads
- 2,583 users clicked on the ad for more information
- 1,517 users viewing Facebook and visited Project Harmony webpage
Other QI outcomes
- Revamp the overall referral process
- Improve peer involvement with clients
- Track referral sources
Act on Lessons Learned:
- Staff turnover and consistent training in PH and how the program works affect the success of this program
- Being in treatment is not a requirement to participate in the program
Adopt, Adapt, or Abandon:
- Adopt: Strategies from pre-COVID 19 that have worked
- Adapt: The webpage referral form (self, from another person, remain anonymous)
- Adapt: The poster into a ⅓ sheet with information that includes a QR Code that refers to the Project Harmony website and a referral form
- Adapt: Wilder Evaluation to reflect that treatment is not a requirement
Goals for 2024
- All programs will select and track at least one performance measure
- Track a performance measure related to the MMS CHS Strategic Plan
- Continue to meet with MDH staff for Performance Management and Quality Improvement technical assistance as needed.
