It is not new to public health to search for ways to improve the work we do and the services we provide.  Lately, we are all newly focused however, on trying to provide extra quality and efficient public health services with fewer resources, while maintaining a positive work environment. 

The NC Center for Public Health Quality (NC CPHQ) is collaborating with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  as part of a nation-wide effort to rovide state-level public health  employees new tools and resources that help everyone at DPH work smarter and accelerate improvement efforts.

NC CPHQ is pleased to announce the new DPH QI 101 program, which is funded by the CDC’s National Public Health Improvement Initiative (NPHII).  According to NC CPHQ Director, Dr. Greg Randolph, “The NPHII program will bring much needed resources to support improvement tools for DPH…during our Center’s first two years we have focused on assisting local public health departments with their improvement efforts, which have been well resourced and very successful…it is quite satisfying that we now have similar amounts of resources to devote to improvement efforts at DPH.”

The overall goal of the NPHII work at DPH is to build on the success of NC CPHQ to integrate continuous quality improvement (CQI) within DPH and local public health agencies to contribute to measurable system wide improvements in public health programs and services – and ultimately improve health outcomes in North Carolina.  The program has four overarching  goals: (1) Enhance and accelerate CQI training for the public health workforce, (2) Support the use of performance data for improvement, (3) Develop and increase the adoption of evidence based/best practices, and (4) Improve operational efficiency at DPH.  

The program will be led by NC CPHQ/DPH’s new Performance Improvement Manager, Lisa Macon Harrison.  After a recent visit in Atlanta with other Performance mprovement Managers across the US, Lisa shared that “North Carolina has had a long-standing positive reputation in public health practice excellence and many of our programs, services, and innovative approaches pave the way for others to learn from and adapt. Quality Improvement efforts in North Carolina public health will be another opportunity for us to showcase  our commitment to figuring out what works best  in a rapidly changing environment to address health and well-being for the 9.5 million people we serve in NC.”

If you are interested in learning more about the DPH QI 101 Program, please contact Tilneil Gary at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it