New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute

Health Care Provider Education and Engagement-TeamBirth NJ: The Quality Institute partnered with Ariadne Labs to implement a shared decision-making initiative, TeamBirth, in New Jersey. TeamBirth works to improve poor maternal and infant outcomes and inequities that are the result of breakdowns in teamwork and communication in the delivery system. To date, we are implementing Team Birth in 6 hospitals and 2 birthing centers in New Jersey and looking to expand further. This work is supported by New Jersey Department of Health. (Continued on Schedule O)The Leapfrog Group: The Quality Institute serves as the Regional Leader for The Leapfrog Group in New Jersey and New York. We provide support to hospitals and Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASC) to achieve the highest participation rate in the country in The Leapfrog Group's annual Hospital and ASC Survey. The Leapfrog surveys are voluntary surveys that report on safety within a facility. The survey results are publicly reported in a consumer-friendly format and used by employers, consumers, and insurers when choosing a facility for services. Facilities use the survey process to improve their quality. Quality Events and Briefings: The Quality Institute holds quality improvement education sessions and releases regular Quality Briefings to drive quality improvement work. Quality improvement strategies can be used by employers, purchasers, payers, and patients to help inform decisions about where to seek care, leverage purchasing power, and increase transparency.

Community Engagement- The Quality Institute's -The Mayors Wellness Campaign (MWC): MWC is a statewide community health initiative that provides communities with funding opportunities and technical assistance for collecting local data and prioritizing their top health-related needs, planning, and implementing programs to address those needs, and developing ways to evaluate their efforts. Over 430 communities have signed the MWC pledge to make their communities healthily places to live, work, and play. In addition, the MWC runs specially focused programs which are described below. (Continued on Schedule O)Conversation of Your Life (COYL): COYL is part of the MWC. Through COYL, we provide technical assistance, materials, speakers, and resources on advance care planning. MWCs uses this assistance to bring important programming on advance care planning to comfortable community settings where people can learn how to create an advance directive, share their wishes for care, and pick a health care proxy.Mental Health Focus: With support from The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, we are running programs with MWCs to combat stigma around mental health and to train people in Mental Health First Aid. With support from the HealthCare Foundation of New Jersey we are training over 75 doulas and community health workers who support pregnant individuals, in Mental Health First Aid.

Public Education and Policy Convening-NJ Integrated Care for Kids (NJ InCK): InCK is a care delivery model that emphasizes community-based case management and screening for children and families who are at the highest risk for health complexity. We are working to design this new model of pediatric care and payment in Monmouth and Ocean Counties. This work is supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).Maternity Action Plan (MAP): The MAP provides a directional path forward to address New Jersey's maternal health crisis and address birth equity. (Continued on Schedule O) The MAP serves as a companion to the NurtureNJ strategic plan. It includes background information and specific steps to improve maternal care and address disparities in maternal infant health outcomes especially for Black pregnant individuals and their families. This work is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.Maternal Infant Health (MIH) Hub: The MIH Hub advances recommendations from Delivering Better Care: Midwifery Practice in New Jersey to support Midwifery practice in New Jersey. The MIH Hub is an ongoing learning collaborative and complements our MAP work. This work is supported by the Burke Foundation. Primary Care Payment Model Study: The Quality Institute was selected, with funding from the New Jersey Department of Human Services, to conduct a market scan of alternative payment models and value-based models for primary care currently in use in New Jersey and to convene a workgroup of various stakeholders and experts to suggest models and measures to use to promote sustainable, comprehensive primary care with a particular focus on integrating behavioral health. Small Group Market Reform: At the Quality Institute, we have long studied the individual and small group markets and looked for ways to make them more affordable. With input from consumers, businesses, insurance and health policy experts, we created a report with nine recommendations to strengthen these markets for employers and their employees. Our recommendations are being used to develop policy changes in these regulated markets.