Program Background

What is HIVQUAL?

  • A model for building capacity for quality management that is designed to improve care for people living with HIV developed by the NY State Department of Health AIDS Institute in partnership with HRSA.
  • A program that consists of three key elements:
  • Quality improvement
  • Performance measurement
  • Infrastructure and capacity building

What are the HIVQUAL methods?

  • Coaching: On-site mentoring of a national team based at the Ministry of Health that emphasizes structure, planning and QI projects, supplemented by training workshops.
  • Performance Measurement: Facility-level data are collected and used to improve care in participating clinics; data are aggregated to produce regional and national benchmarking reports.
  • Implementation: QI projects focus on improvement of selected aspects of ambulatory care through process investigation and small tests of change.
  • Peer Learning: Regional groups are created for providers and facilities to share experiences and facilitate coordination of quality improvement work.
  • Local government sponsorship of regional groups.

HIVQUAL Implementation Strategies:

1)Capacity-building in the Ministry of Health:

  • Staffing
  • Identification of key stakeholders
  • Integration with other quality management initiatives in the Ministry
  • Coordination through the Global AIDS Program (GAP ) office, other US Government agencies and relevant UN agencies.

2)Sustainability and spread:

  • Working with other donors and partners
  • Development of regional networks
  • Community health centers
  • Strong foundations in MOH capacity

Why HIVQUAL?

Benefits for the country:

  • Improves quality of care for HIV+ population
  • Ability to compare data among regions and with other countries, including comparative clinic data for benchmarking reports
  • Indicators based on supporting the implementation of national guidelines

Benefits for the health center:

  • On-site consulting/mentoring provided
  • Facility-based data are available to the clinic staff for immediate use
  • Providers learn a wide range of quality improvement tools to improve processes linked to desired outcomes
  • Flexible data collection methodology
  • Strengthens documentation systems
  • Quality improvement strategies at a regional level through regional quality improvement groups and peer learning strategies
  • Opportunities for peer learning with nearby facilities through regional quality improvement groups.

Benefits for the patients:

  • Improved service delivery
  • Improved quality of life