The first meeting of the PHQIX Expert Panel!

In order to ensure that the exchange is a huge success, PHQIX has our very own Expert Panel (EP)! That’s right- we have 11 of the leading quality improvement (QI) experts guiding every step of the way.  The responsibility of the EP is to provide advice and counsel to the project team on key activities to be undertaken by the project, to help engage the Public Health Community in participating in the Practice Exchange, and to review QI submissions for posting on the Practice Exchange.  The EP is made up of representatives of entities, government, non-government, and academia with in-depth knowledge of QI in public health.  The EP include the following QI experts: Les Beitsch, Chris Bujak, Jim Butler, Cindan Gizzi, Grace Gorenflo, Louise Kent,  Joe Kyle, Kusuma Madamala, Joyce Marshall, Marni Mason, and Jack Moran.

Our Expert Panel met for the first time in Portland, OR at the NNPHI Open Forum Meeting.  The meeting gave us a chance to connect in person and discuss various topics related to the project. First we briefed the Expert Panel on the project vision, structure, activities, the user centered design approach, and the design concept for the PHQIX website.   The bulk of the meeting was spent working in small groups discussing the submission workflow and submission fields for the site.  One of the group activities was determining the process for submitting a QI initiative for posting on PHQIX.  We worked through the process from the time a submitter logs on to the site to the time their initiative is approved and posted on PHQIX.  The other EP group discussed the submission template, which is essentially the form which one will complete to submit a QI initiative for approval. In this breakout session, the Expert Panel taught us about QI and provided us with invaluable feedback on the data elements which are necessary to collect to ensure that PHQIX is useful for the public health community.  Among their many helpful suggestions, the EP members stressed the importance of collecting metrics. They also gave us ideas about how they would like to be able to tag parts of submissions with keywords.

We are so grateful that the EP members have agreed to assist us on this important project and are looking forward to working with this dynamic group for the next two years!