The CQI process focuses on barriers to the achievement and improvement of programs, services and results for clients. To be appropriate for advancement through CQI, an issue must constitute a barrier to one or more of the following: the functioning of operations that influence the agency's capacity to deliver services that cannot be resolved at the local or regional level; the quality of service delivery that reflect regional or state practices; regional or state practices that influence achieving program or client results; and/or regional or state conditions that diminish client satisfaction. Barriers in any of these areas may become apparent to CQI team members in a variety of ways, including their own and their direct experiences with colleagues’ casework, service delivery, interaction with community partners, trends in data or issues identified at the state or regional level. Requires Teamwork The barrier posed by a CQI issue must exist for multiple workers, clients or community partners. Its removal must require joint effort by the members of a team, rather than individual initiative or routine administrative action. Not Addressed by Existing Guidelines An issue can be advanced if policies, procedures and regulations: are unavailable or insufficient to resolve it; or need clarification or changes that require a work group or team effort for their development; or cannot be solved by simple methods such as placing a phone call to central office for clarification. Formulation of CQI Issues Having identified a CQI issue, the CQI team should formulate the issue to focus on potential solutions at any of three levels: Client Level Are there ways to solve the problem by changing how we interact with the client? Program Level Are there ways to solve the problem by modifying the program that serves the client? Community Level Are there ways to solve the problem by posing it to the local community as a social problem that merits the attention and resources? community’s Advancing CQI Issues to the next level A CQI team at any level should forward an issue to another level only if it has first: determined that the issue meets all criteria for issue identification; tried to resolve the issue, without success;
The CQI process focuses on barriers to the achievement and improvement of programs, services and results for clients. To be appropriate for advancement through CQI, an issue must constitute a barrier to one or more of the following: the functioning of operations that influence the agency's capacity to deliver services that cannot be resolved at the local or regional level; the quality of service delivery that reflect regional or state practices; regional or state practices that influence achieving program or client results; and/or regional or state conditions that diminish client satisfaction. Barriers in any of these areas may become apparent to CQI team members in a variety of ways, including their own and their colleagues’ casework, direct experiences with service delivery, interaction with community partners, trends in data or issues identified at the state or regional level. Requires Teamwork The barrier posed by a CQI issue must exist for multiple workers, clients or community partners. Its removal must require joint effort by the members of a team, rather than individual initiative or routine administrative action. Not Addressed by Existing Guidelines An issue can be advanced if policies, procedures and regulations: are unavailable or insufficient to resolve it; or need clarification or changes that require a work group or team effort for their development; or cannot be solved by simple methods such as placing a phone call to central office for clarification. Formulation of CQI Issues Having identified a CQI issue, the CQI team should formulate the issue to focus on potential solutions at any of three levels: Client Level Are there ways to solve the problem by changing how we interact with the client? Program Level Are there ways to solve the problem by modifying the program that serves the client? Community Level Are there ways to solve the problem by posing it to the local community as a social problem that merits the community’s attention and resources? Advancing CQI Issues to the next level A CQI team at any level should forward an issue to another level only if it has first: determined that the issue meets all criteria for issue identification; tried to resolve the issue, without success;