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Session Title: Learning From Quality Assurance and Improvement Processes
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Panel Session 794 to be held in Calvert Ballroom Salon E on Saturday, November 10, 12:10 PM to 1:40 PM
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Sponsored by the Government Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Rakesh Mohan,
Idaho State Legislature,
rmohan@ope.idaho.gov
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| Discussant(s):
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| David J Bernstein,
Westat,
davidbernstein@westat.com
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| Abstract:
Quality assurance and improvement processes can serve as a learning tool for evaluators and others. Drawing from private, non-profit, and government sectors, panel members will discuss different approaches to quality assurance and improvement and how we can learn from those processes to improve quality of our work in the future. These approaches vary widely depending on the nature of business one is involved with and the organizational context. However, for these processes to serve as an effective learning tool, we must clearly define their purpose.
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Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement Fosters Quality Management
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| Stanley Capela,
HeartShare Human Services,
stan.capela@heartshare.org
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This presentation will focus on how one organization utilizes external reviews conducted by a state funding agency as part of their quality improvement process that leads to enhancing quality management and thereby organizational learning.
HeartShare Human Services is a non-profit organization that provides children and family and developmental disabilities services. Unlike children and family services where the emphasis is on performance measurements, the developmental disabilities service component focuses on quality assurance. This presentation will focus on how one organization uses information from state funding reviews to identify programmatic strengths and weaknesses through an analysis of statements of deficiencies. Based on information from these reviews, the organization utilizes a quality improvement committee to analyze data, target program areas and develop systems for improving performance.
Overall, this process has led to a significant reduction in programmatic deficiencies and has created a quality improvement process that fosters an environment of organizational learning.
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Rabbit Season? Duck Season? Proposal Season!
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| Jennifer Dewey,
Macro International Inc,
jennifer.d.dewey@orcmacro.com
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This presentation will describe how a for-profit organization organizes proposal production to enhance cooperation and channel resources among staff in order to provide coordinated, methodologically sound, cost-effective, and utilization-focused evaluations in the public health, mental health, and prevention fields. Macro International Inc.'s Center for Evaluation Excellence (CEE) assists staff in:
1) capitalizing on and channeling staff's evaluation strengths and skills during development of evaluation proposals, including proposed staffing for evaluation projects;
2) providing a forum for discussions about evaluation across program areas by way of special meetings, special guests, and evaluation-focused staff training, which is then incorporated into proposals; and,
3) organizing and articulating our collective understanding of, and our range of approaches and skills for, conducting health promotion and health care/services evaluation.
Macro's processes, including the CEE, contribute to an organized, coordinated system for proposal development that fosters cross-team collaboration, organizational learning, and a track record of success.
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Ensuring Quality of Evaluations on a Shoestring Budget
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| Rakesh Mohan,
Idaho State Legislature,
rmohan@ope.idaho.gov
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One good way to ensure quality of our evaluations is to learn from quality control/assurance (QC/QA) processes that we employ in conducting those evaluations. Depending on the size of an evaluation agency and available resources, these QC/QA processes can vary in scope-from using a simple checklist that shows policies and procedures were followed to doing a thorough assessment of methodologies used and analyses conducted. For those evaluation offices that operate on a shoestring budget, the challenge lies in designing a QC/QA system that not only helps improve the quality of evaluations but also allows evaluators to learn from it. If we learn from the QC/QA process, we are likely to not repeat the same mistakes and do a better job on the next evaluation. This presentation will discuss different QC/QA methods used by the evaluation office of the Idaho Legislature.
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