Nichq

National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality:
An Overview of their Role in Healthcare Improvement

National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality

The National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) is an independent not-for-profit organization founded in 1999 by Dr. Charles Homer to help children all over the world get high quality healthcare. It is a national organization with a main office in Boston, MA. It is run by pediatric healthcare professionals with the mission to improve the healthcare system available to children. Since its founding, NICHQ , along with “clinical and improvement leaders and parents, has directly shaped the quality of care for children and youth in the areas of access and efficiency in office practice, asthma, autism, children in foster care, diabetes, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, cystic fibrosis, hearing loss, epilepsy, obesity, oral health, prevention, and spina bifida”( About Us).   They do this by creating system improvements, promoting adoption of best practices, and advocating for high quality children’s healthcare ( About Us). The organization works with many groups, including providers, policy makers, patients, and families. It provides services such as education, training, and consulting support.
Some of the education and training programs they offer are learning collaboratives, distance learning, Q-Calls, forums, courses, and technical assistance. The learning collaboratives are sessions led by experts where participants work together to “test, share, and implement improvement strategies” (About Us).   They focus on a specific topic or disease such as childhood obesity or cystic fibrosis. Distance learning is similar to the learning collaborative teaching model, but uses virtual technology to communicate long-distance. The Annual Forum for Improving Children’s Healthcare gives organizations and quality-improvement experts the chance to share ideas, learn new skills, and preview... [continues]

Read full essay