Case Studies

NICHQ worked with Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Oklahoma to identify policies, structures, and other contextual factors that may have impacted preterm birth rates in each state. Each of the four selected states participated in the 2013-2017 phase of the Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network to Reduce Infant Mortality (IM CoIIN) and elected to address preterm births as one of their priority areas.

The Bureau of Community Chronic Disease Prevention at the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) worked with NICHQ to develop and lead hospitals in a quality improvement initiative to increase exclusive breastfeeding rates.

Between 2013 and 2017, the Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA MCHB) engaged NICHQ in what became a nationwide effort to reduce infant mortality rates in the U.S. Had these rates remained unchanged, over 23,000 babies would continue to die annually.

NICHQ’s efforts as the National Coordinating Center (NCC) marked the first time in U.S. history that improvements in SCD care were tackled on a large, regional and national scale. 

NICHQ led systemic and sustainable changes to the systems responsible for efficient and reliable diagnosis and referral of infants who are deaf or hard of hearing. By getting the vital intervention services needed as early as possible, outcomes improve significantly for these children and their families.

NICHQ brought together representatives from primary care providers, public health professionals and community-based organizations to identify, test and evaluate evidence-based program and policy changes to prevent and treat obesity at the community level.

NICHQ identified a series of promising levers for change and potential measures to track improvement in early childhood social and emotional development.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics turned to NICHQ to develop national resources and a training curriculum to engage and train healthcare professionals to become advocates for obesity prevention within their communities.

NICHQ led a nationwide quality improvement initiative aimed at increasing breastfeeding rates by helping hospitals improve maternity care to better support new mothers who choose to breastfeed. As a result, 80 percent of participating hospitals were designated as Baby-Friendly.