Ensuring Compliance by School-Based Health Centers in New York State
Since 2011, IPRO has been under contract with NYSDOH to help ensure that School-Based Health Centers provide consistently high-quality care and services to the students they serve. Read about how IPRO partners with NYSDOH to conduct pre-opening surveys, conduct monitoring reviews, track and screen corrective action plans, and share evidence-based and data-driven guidance.
- Since 2011, IPRO has completed 594 on-site reviews across three New York State programs: School Based Health Centers (SBHCs), School Based Dental Centers (SBHC‑Ds), and Family Planning Programs (FPPs).
- IPRO conducts up to 80 Monitoring Reviews for SBHCs, SBHC‑Ds and FPPs per year.
- IPRO performs Tracking and Screening of an estimated 72 Corrective Action Plans (CAPS) per year.
- Since 2011, IPRO has responded to more than 200 requests from providers for technical assistance completing their CAPs.
Program Description
“School-based health care is a powerful tool for achieving health equity among children and adolescents who unjustly experience disparities in outcomes simply because of their race, ethnicity, or family income.” — School-Based Health Alliance
New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) supports the development and operation of School Based Health Centers that provide age-appropriate primary medical, social, mental health, and health educations services to students in high-need schools and communities.
Since 2011, IPRO has been under contract with NYSDOH to help ensure that School-Based Health Centers provide consistently high-quality care and services to the students they serve. IPRO does this through three main activities:
1. Conducting Pre-Opening Surveys
2. Conducting Monitoring Reviews
3. Tracking and Screening Corrective Action Plans
Background
Financial, geographical, and other barriers often prevent school-aged children from accessing high quality primary care. In New York State, School Based Health Centers are one tool deployed by the Department of Health to increase access to primary care for underserved children. SBHCs offer primary, preventive, and mental health care on site at the preschools, primary, middle and high schools where at-risk children learn each day. A combination of state, federal, and private funding supports these programs, which are staffed by teams of providers including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, community health aides, physicians, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, health educators, nutritionists, dentists, and dental hygienists.
The range of services offered may include comprehensive physical examinations, diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic conditions, screenings, mental health counseling, immunizations, sports physicals, referrals, education and more.
To help monitor and improve the quality of care provided by these programs, NYSDOH contracts with IPRO to:
• Ensure clinical programs comply with all federal and state requirements and standards.
• Ensure the quality of care meets professionally recognized standards.
• Achieve improvements in the health status of patients.
• Reduce racial and ethnic health disparities by assessing the racial impact of current policies and increasing awareness of available services.
• Provide education regarding evidence-based standards of care.
• Provide current and accurate data to the state.
Solutions
Over the past decade, IPRO has perfected an automated system for scheduling and managing the statewide performance review process. IPRO developed a library of modular review tools that are customizable for new review types.
Performance assessment methods include document review, interviews, observation, policy reviews, and chart reviews. IPRO designs and uses a variety of tailored, standardized surveys and data collection tools to ensure fair and consistent assessment of each program. The collected data is stored and tracked in IPRO’s scheduling and tracking database, which generates a variety of monitoring and progress reports and analyses.
Each program review tool includes the following broad priority areas:
- Clinical Services
- Personnel
- Program Management and Administration
- Policies and Procedures
- Fiscal Operations
- Educational Materials/Program Promotion/Outreach
- Clinic Environment/Facility Observation
- State Contract Compliance
- Continuous Quality Improvement
IPRO’s monitoring team includes seasoned, versatile, and knowledgeable staff with extensive experience in quality improvement. Nurses lead the review teams for SBHC reviews, and dental hygienists lead the teams for the SBHC-D reviews.
Value
IPRO has gone far beyond merely fulfilling the requirements of the contract. It serves as a valued partner, assisting NYSDOH in decision-making and refining the program by providing evidence-based and data-driven guidance as needed.
IPRO stays abreast of best practice recommendations and quality initiatives promoted by the School-Based Health Alliance, as well as updated guidance provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics/Bright Futures, and recommendations from Medicaid regarding Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) services to guide its work with the SBHCs. Its work with the SBHC-Ds is informed by evidence-based practice recommendations promoted by the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the School Oral Health Resource Library through the School-Based Health Alliance.
IPRO works collaboratively with program staff at the Bureau of Child Health (BCH) to review and modify elements of the monitoring tools and protocol guidance as new or updated information becomes available.
For information on IPRO, contact us at info@ipro.org.