
Initiatives
Improved Hearing Screening and Intervention Services (IHSIS)
A series of collaborative improvement projects to increase the rate of documented follow-up and intervention services for infants with hearing loss.

Status: Complete
The multiple collaborative projects ran from 2010 to 2013.
- Who: Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) offices representing 28 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in collaboration with parent partners, audiologists and other healthcare professionals and advocates.
- Funder: This project was funded by the Health Resources and Service Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
- Our Role: Facilitated Breakthrough Series learning collaboratives to apply quality improvement methodology to improve the systems of care for children with hearing loss.
What IHSIS Project Participants Say
Working with NICHQ has been a very rewarding experience … A partnership with families has been a hallmark of what the Maternal and Child Health Bureau has done for years, but NICHQ really demonstrated how important those partnerships are.

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.

At the beginning we thought that it'd be another project or another thing to do in our list of things we're supposed to do. But actually what I've learned is this is a better way to do things—a faster, better and effective way. You have to have a goal and objectives. When you work through the process we've been learning at NICHQ, everything is very efficient.

Prior to the working with NICHQ, we had had some broad areas of focus for our plan for the year, but really had no strategy or mechanism for testing whether a change that we implemented was an improvement. And we’d always implement statewide before knowing if the change was beneficial. I’ve seen other participants in NICHQ projects make a similar shift and now think about how things are possible instead of impossible.

Related Content
Addressing Racial Equity in Health and Beyond
At NICHQ, we’re dedicated to ensuring all children achieve their optimal health. This requires increasing access to health and working together to implement systems changes rooted in anti-racism and equity.
The National Institute for Children’s Health Quality joins the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in encouraging communities to talk about the impact of racism and the need for racial justice and racial healing during the seventh annual National Day of Racial Healing on January 17, 2023. The day is an opportunity to bring all people together and inspire collective action to create a more just and equitable world.

JAN. 17: NATIONAL DAY OF RACIAL HEALING
Join organizations like NICHQ in spreading the word about this year’s National Day of Racial Healing, and invite friends, family, colleagues to start a conversation. On Jan. 17, tune in at 10 p.m. EST for a live MSNBC townhall from New Orleans. Noticias Telemundo will stream a Spanish-language townhall at 7 p.m. EST.
Use the hashtag #HowWeHeal to share your virtual conversations!
Download Resources for Engaging in Professional Settings
NICHQ’s Equity Systems Continuum Initiative
The National Institute for Children’s Health Quality, with funding by the WKKF, is building upon an evidence-informed conceptual framework known as the Equity Systems Continuum to describe and define the systems that individuals and organizations currently operate within: Supremist-Designed System, Savior-Designed Systems, Ally-Designed Systems, and Equity-Empowered Systems. The Global Infant Safe Sleep Center (GISS) developed the original framework and serves as an ongoing partner in the project.
At the end of this initiative, organizations will be able to identify where they are on the continuum by utilizing an Equity Systems Auditing Tool (ESAT), ultimately identifying ways to improve their organization. As we develop the ESAT, this is also an opportunity for NICHQ to assess, share, and nurture our own internal progress along the Equity Systems Continuum.
Learn About NICHQ’s Equity Work
Many disparities in health are rooted in inequities, affecting opportunities and resources needed to be as healthy as possible. We are committed to achieving equity in all forms, including race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability. Join us on our equity journey as we work to make our vision that "every child achieves their optimal health" a reality.
A Commitment to Anti-Racism
NICHQ has united with three other national maternal and child health organizations in a public commitment to undoing racism as a key driver to improve maternal and infant health outcomes, highlighting irrefutable disparities in morbidity and mortality rates across racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. Learn more about our joint action plan.