Mission
Achieving better health outcomes
for children and their families
“We are a team of passionate and highly responsive experts and advisors who are wholly committed to pushing the boundaries on what is possible in order to make real and rapid change happen.”
Scott Berns, MD, MPH, FAAP
NICHQ President and CEO
Deep flaws in the systems responsible for children’s health perpetuate suffering for our nation’s children and their families. Among developed countries, the United States consistently remains among the worst performing on common indicators of well-being, especially for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) children and families. While committed professionals and organizations nationwide work diligently for improvement, unfortunately, disparate efforts, poorly defined or misaligned initiatives, and social determinants affecting health make improvement a highly complex and challenging endeavor. This is where NICHQ’s expertise comes in.
We are a mission-driven nonprofit dedicated to driving dramatic and sustainable improvements in the complex issues facing children’s health. We are committed to creating and promoting new approaches for lasting systems change to improve children's health. With the help of a network of exceptional and dedicated partners, every day we move closer to our vision of a world where every child achieves their optimal health.
Our Core Values
As an entire staff, we co-created our updated Values over the course of several months. This process resulted in value statements reflective of our entire organization, regardless of department. These values are both our north star and a reminder of what we strive to do every day.
Our Strategic Direction
What People Say
I want to tell you how much I have enjoyed and learned from all of you at NICHQ. You are enthusiastic, supportive, smart and FUN. You have talked me off the ledge many times when I wanted to quit. You are true leaders and passionate about what you do.
NICHQ's team brought enthusiasm, structure and information about how to effectively implement change management to the project which has been key to the success of the collaborative. I continue to look forward to guidance and support from NICHQ for similar projects in the future.
Being involved with NICHQ has been a career-changing and life-altering experience in many ways. Quality improvement methodology is not additive to my work, it influences how I do my daily work.
Although I work with data every day, NICHQ gave me the tools to look at data through a different lens in order to support change and improve quality for newborn screening.
Through the Infant Mortality CoIIN, NICHQ has found effective ways to engage all states around six areas of effort to reduce infant mortality and improve birth outcomes. With the support of NICHQ staff and expert consultants, state maternal child health leaders are learning to use traditional quality improvement and innovative approaches to maximize the leadership roles, and to use a health equity lens in this work.
