title: Improved outcomes found after implementing a systematic evaluation and program improvement process for tuberculosis.
abstract: California's state and local tuberculosis (TB) programs collaborated to develop the Tuberculosis Indicators Project (TIP), a program evaluation and improvement process. In TIP, local and state staff review data, identify program gaps, implement plans to improve local TB program performance, and evaluate outcomes. After 10 years of project implementation, indicator performance changes and patient outcomes were measured. Eighty-seven percent of participating programs showed a performance increase in targeted indicators after three years compared with 57% of comparison groups. Statistically significant performance change was more common in the intervention local health departments (LHDs) than in comparison groups. The most notable performance changes were in the contact investigation and case management indicators. These results indicate that this systematic evaluation and program improvement project was associated with improved LHD TB control performance and may be useful to inform improvement projects in other public health programs.
authors.affiliation: California Department of Public Health, Center for Infectious Diseases, Division of Communicable Disease Control, Tuberculosis Control Branch, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cass
authors.forename: Tambi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ehman
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flood
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Royce
mesh_terms: D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002140:California; D019090:Case Management / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D016358:Contact Tracing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006077:Government Agencies / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D015397:Program Evaluation; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents