The Oregon Pediatric Improvement Partnership

A public-private partnership to improve child health quality

Program Overview
An Improvement Partnership is a durable, regional collaboration of public and private partners that uses measurement-based efforts and a systems approach to improve the quality of children’s health care.

In 2009, multiple partners submitted a joint application to the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP) and theCommonwealth Fund. This application requested technical assistance to develop an Oregon Improvement Partnership. After an environmental assessment conducted by the Children’s Health Foundation, VCHIP conducted a site visit in February, 2010 and made recommendations to the core partners developing Oregon’s IP. In July, the Department of Pediatrics at OHSU and theChild and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative provided start-up funding and other resources for OPIP.

In Oregon, the major partners involved in the development of OPIP are:

Oregon Health & Sciences University, Department of Pediatrics

Medicaid

Office of Family Health

Oregon Pediatric Society (OPS)

Children’s Health Foundation (CHF)

Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI)

Oregon Center for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs

OPIP’s charge is to create synergy between partners to: create a common agenda in child health quality, to inform policyaround child health, to help create a common quality measurement framework for pediatrics, to develop practice-based quality improvement projects, and to provide support to practices engaged in QI.  Because Oregon has an array of projects dealing with child health quality, IP will help identify synergistic areas to leverage the projects’ common points.

OPIP is a member of the National Improvement Partnership Network, and has been working with NIPN on across-state collaboration in quality improvement innovations and dissemination of best practices, provision of input in the American Board of Pediatrics Maintenance of Certification process, and development of quality improvement training opportunities.

Contact
R.J. Gillespie, M.D., M.H.P.E.
Medical Director, OPIP
gillesrj@ohsu.edu