Quality Management System Design
Posted by: CQL on 12/29/2006
Filed under: South Carolina
South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs (DDSN)
The Situation
With the many different approaches South Carolina’s DDSN uses to measure and improve quality, it became important to develop a process that would allow the synthesis of all data in order to understand overall performance of the Organized Health Care Delivery System (OHCDS). In collaboration with CQL, DDSN designed a quality management process that allows for just such an assessment. The process is built on a technical assistance and learning approach to quality enhancement. The effort is grounded in CQL’s Organizing Principles and Basic Assurances® and therefore much of the work focuses on the OHCDS’s leadership, systems and quality management and planning. The DDSN system is results driven and uses an organizational performance approach to measure the system’s responsiveness to its consumers. This process was developed in partnership with CQL, internationally recognized for identifying “best practice” with the disability field.
What CQL Did
In 1997, South Carolina decided to pursue an outcome based measurement system. A committee of stakeholders chose CQL to support DDSN in the design and implementation of a new person-centered quality enhancement system. The goal involved using the measurement of Personal Outcomes along with service provider’s information. This quality improvement system and information is used in several ways, including individual supports planning and establishing agency goals.
Personal Outcomes assess consumer’s health, welfare and satisfaction. CQL’s Personal Outcome MeasuresSM help DDSN determine how well services and supports are helping an individual achieve personal goals. Data are collected quarterly, analyzed annually and trended over time. A certification process for the in-state consultants was designed and implemented to ensure the reliability and consistency of the review teams.
“[CQL has] been instrumental in facilitating the infrastructure of our Outcome Based Performance Measurement System. This infrastructure sets forth the foundation of a reliable and valid approach to understanding what is important to our consumers, how the service delivery system is responding to their needs, preferences and desires, and for the ever-important work of restructuring our organization and that of our provider network in order to be more responsive to our customers. [CQL’s] approach to systems change efforts is collaborative, positive, and effective … One of the best aspects … is their desire to build the State’s own capacity in the area of quality.”
Kathi K. Lacy, Associate State Director for Policy