Quality Improvement in Public Health: Current Status and Future Prospects

The application of quality improvement (QI) methods and techniques in public health departments has accelerated rapidly over the last decade catalyzed by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) with extensive support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Quality improvement is a distinct management process that deploys a coordinated set of techniques to assist departments in meeting the health needs of their communities.