Family Home Visiting (FHV)

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Contact Info

Family Home Visiting Program
health.homevisiting@state.mn.us
health.fhvgrants@state.mn.us

Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)

 CQI is a deliberate, defined process focused on activities that are responsive to community needs and improving population health. It is a continuous and ongoing effort to achieve measurable improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness, performance, accountability, outcomes, and other indicators of quality for state and local program levels. The goal of CQI at the MDH family home visiting program is to improve outcomes by building capacity of local partners through:

  • Establishing a culture of CQI.
  • Building CQI infrastructure.
  • Applying CQI methods to daily practice.

For more information about Minnesota’s family home visiting CQI efforts, contact health.fhvcqi@state.mn.us.

Why we promote CQI

CQI is considered a best practice in public health. MDH is a Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) awardee that administers funding on behalf of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to local grantees throughout Minnesota to deliver home visiting programs. MDH family home visiting is required by HRSA to develop a CQI work plan and report on it annually. MDH family home visiting must demonstrate utilization of CQI best practices and measurable improvement at the state program level while assisting family home visiting programs to increase their capacity to use consistent and planned CQI methods to improve program outcomes.

Ways we support CQI

An interdisciplinary team made up of a CQI coordinator, home visiting practice consultants, research scientists, and student workers work closely to support local family home visiting programs in building their CQI capacity by providing:

  • Consultation
  • Training
  • Facilitation
  • Coaching
  • Peer learning opportunities
  • Technical assistance
  • Data collection, reporting, and analysis

Monthly CQI Connect and Learn  

Previously called ‘office hours,’ the monthly CQI Connect and Learn serves as a way for the MDH family home visiting team to provide continued support to family home visiting program staff across the state. Join on the second Wednesday of each month at 10 a.m. via Microsoft Teams. Registration is required. Click on the links below to register for each of the upcoming dates:  

CQI essentials

The MDH family home visiting section is committed to the principles of CQI and supports efforts at both the state and local levels to improve the effectiveness and delivery of family home visiting services provided to families with young children.

These guiding principles include:

  • A focus on improving services from the client’s perspective.
  • Meaningful engagement at all levels is required for success.
  • Recognition that all processes can be improved.
  • Continual learning using an “all teach, all learn” philosophy.
  • Decision-making is improved by using both data and team knowledge.
  • CQI data is used for learning and improvement, not for judgment or supervision.

MDH uses many different resources to support CQI efforts, but several essentials will get you on the path to success when planning a CQI project. Visit family home visiting toolkits webpage to read the CQI toolkit that has more information on CQI practice and essentials.

Learning collaboratives

A collaborative is a time-limited effort of multiple organizations that come together with leaders and experts to learn about and to create improved processes in a specific topic area. MDH uses the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s Breakthrough Series collaborative model as a framework for CQI in family home visiting.  

The topic selection process engages internal and external stakeholders. Topics that are chosen are issues that have a high level of interest at the state and local program levels, as well as room for improvement based on national benchmarks in family home visiting performance measures. Below are descriptions of the current and past statewide CQI learning collaboratives. 

In 2024, MDH supported a CQI project related to family retention, with a focus on increasing prenatal enrollment. Efforts were made to decrease missing data in MIECHV performance measures.

Project documents and resources:

In 2023, MDH is supported a CQI project related to family engagement and family retention. Two local family home visiting agencies also participated in the CQI Practicum with MDH. The 2023 CQI Practicum Showcase highlights this project.

MDH also created a poster to showcase qualitative data that was collected during 2023. This poster, A 2023 MN Initiative: Collaborative Use of Qualitative Data in Continuous Quality Improvement Efforts (PDF), was presented at the MIECHV All Grantee Meeting in January 2024.

In 2022, MDH supported a CQI project related to the MIECHV performance measures for early language and literacy and referrals. The Showcase shares the outcomes from this project and highlights Dakota County's work on implementing the Mothers and Babies curriculum aiming to reduce maternal depression.

In 2018, MDH facilitated an eight-month statewide family enrollment, engagement, and retention learning collaborative with 16 teams. The goal of this collaborative was to increase the proportion of eligible, referred families who participate at high levels by changing how family home visiting staff enroll, relate to, and engage families in services.

Project documents

In 2017, MDH facilitated a nine-month statewide screening and referrals learning collaborative with 16 teams. The goals of the collaborative were to improve early identification, connection to services, and follow-up for families after a developmental, social-emotional, and/or caregiver depression screening indicated a need for referral.

Project documents:

To request additional collaborative materials, please contact: health.FHVcqi@state.mn.us.

Data collection, reporting, and analysis

MDH family home visiting evaluation staff support CQI initiatives by providing guidance related to data collection and reporting. Guidance documents for reporting can be found on the current family home visiting evaluation resources page. Further, data reports are generated regularly to support current CQI efforts and inform future project focus. To request assistance with data collection, please contact: health.FHVcqi@state.mn.us.

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Last Updated: 03/28/2025