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Health Care Quality Improvement/Management Consultant

JOB SUMMARY

Company University Re...
Industry International...
Category Public Health
Location Accra
Job Status Fixed Term
Salary TBD
Education Master’...
Experience 5 years
Job Expires Feb 09, 2023
Contact ...
 

Company Profile

Guided by a strong vision of equitable and resilient systems that respond to people’s needs and emerging threats, URC helps countries and local actors to build, implement, and sustain science-driven, scalable solutions. Established in 1965, URC offers a range of technical expertise to empower governments, communities, and service providers toward strengthening their own health and social systems and improving service quality. We aim to expand access to and improve the quality of services, addressing maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health; global health security and infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria; reproductive health and family planning; nutrition and water, sanitation, and hygiene. In our interactions with each other and our clients, we stay true to our values for transformative change by focusing on:

  • Creativity: by unleashing our creativity, we enhance engagement and interaction to improve problem-solving.
  • Collaboration: not only in our work towards the same vision and mission instill staff with a strong sense of purpose, but also enables us to complement each other’s skills and allocate work to maximize everyone’s strengths.
  • Accountability: we hold ourselves responsible for accomplishing goals, completing assignments, and making decisions.
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion: we embrace the importance of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment, where our leadership and staff model behavior that enriches our organization, demonstrates respect for all people and supports opportunities for all.
  • Transparency: we understand that when employees deeply trust one another and their leaders, they will be more engaged in their roles because they will not be worried about unfair treatment.

Job Description

Health Care Quality Improvement/Management Consultant: Review of National Healthcare Quality Strategy – USAID Quality Services for Health (Q4H) Activity

  • Hours:              Approximately 40 days between February and March 2023
  • Salary:             Commensurate with required experience and qualifications
  • Reports to:       Chief of Party
  • Location:          Accra, Ghana

Overview
URC implements the USAID-funded Q4H Activity. The Activity’s purpose is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Government of Ghana (GoG) to promote and oversee improved quality health services in the public and private health sectors. This four-year Activity supports the GoG and other private and public sector Actors, including both recipients (or civil society) and providers of services, to sustainably improve the quality of health service delivery to improve health outcomes in Ghana. As a result, the Activity is committed to supporting the MOH to review and update/revise the National Health Quality Strategy (NHQS) 2017-2021.

The MOH, alongside implementing and development partners, developed and endorsed the NHQS in 2016. The NHQS 2017-2021 aimed at protecting the public from harm and improving the quality of health service provision in 2016. The NHQS’s specific goals are to:

  • Continuously improve health outcomes in the population health priority areas
  • Develop a coordinated quality health care system in the areas of quality planning, quality control and quality improvement – including improved use of data for decision making
  • Improve client experience being responsive to the health needs and aspirations of the patient and the community

To advance these goals, the NHQS 2017-2021 focuses on seven strategic interventions:

  • Establish structures at all levels of the health system (national, regional, district) to lead quality across planning, control/assurance, and improvement – Quality Governance Structure.
  • Develop and implement a uniform national policy on data reporting and data use by health workers and health sector agencies.
  • Improve patient safety, client satisfaction, and participation of patients/staff/students and the community in quality governance – Community and patient involvement.
  • Improve quality culture in health workers/Staff/students through training in the requisite clinical skills and in QI methods and incorporation of quality-related performance indicators in their job descriptions – Incorporation of QI in pre-service and in-service training.
  • Create the “joy at work” environment to enable health workers/Staff/students to consistently deliver safe and high-quality care through the provision of essential inputs, incentives, recognition and reward (staff safety).
  • Enhance transparency through the ranking of like facilities and like agencies in league tables, with awards at annual quality conferences that involve patients, communities and providers (exhibit improvement initiatives).
  • Improve SS and monitoring across all MOH directorates, sector agencies, HTIs and all service delivery sites in the public, private sub-sectors and teaching hospitals all levels including traditional medicine practice

Since the MOH started implementing the NHQS strategies in 2017, it has collaborated with key Actors to strengthen the leadership and governance of quality improvement/management (QI/QM) structures and processes across the public and private sectors at the national, regional, and district levels. In support of the NQHS, the MOH has formed the National Quality Technical Committee (NQTC) comprising of members from its Agencies. The NQTC meets quarterly to leverage its mandate and expertise to reach the NHQS objectives that support facility-based QM teams in the public, quasi-government, and private sectors across the national, regional, and district levels. While the MOH and key Actors have achieved success in aspects of the NHQS, there are lingering challenges that need to be addressed to fully achieve the NHQS’s goals. In the recent past, the MOH and key Actors have initiated an effort to evaluate the implementation of the NHQS.

Responsibilities
The Q4H Activity is currently searching for an experienced Health Care Quality Improvement/Management consultant to guide and work with local MOH Review Team to review of the NHQS 2017-2021 and propose strategies and activities that will continue to drive QI/QM and leadership systems at all levels of care and protect the public against harm and improve the quality of care.

The consultant also will support the Q4H Activity in ensuring that the following 10 levers are connected and effective in helping to advance the NHQS’s seven priorities. (Note: In many cases, MOH Agencies and other key Actors may be using these levers but have not connected these activities to NHQS alignment.)

  • A person-centered approach: Quality experience of an individual’s lifespan (focusing on combining physical and behavioral health with health-related social needs), addressing access and barriers, resolving gaps in helping individuals achieve the best possible outcomes.
  • Health Information Technology: Supports standardized electronic data, which is shared, and able to communicate with other systems (interoperable), to promote seamless care coordination and communication. Interoperable digital health data also supports continuous learning health care systems and ensures individuals have access to their information to support informed decision-making as well as referrals and community planning
  • Workforce Development: Investing in people to prepare the next health care generation of health care professionals and support lifelong learning for providers.
  • Promote Safety: Health care errors remain a significant source of injury and death. The strategy aims to ensure that safety measures, quality improvement, payment, and certification programs hold accountable purchasers and, providers to keep individuals safe.
  • Foster Engagement: All individuals, their families, their caregivers, health care providers and even payers have access to understandable and meaningful health care data, which includes preferences and health-related social needs, and individual care plans drafted in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner that will assist them in making informed care decisions.
  • Measurement and feedback: Provide performance feedback to plans and providers to improve care.
  • Learning and Technical Assistance: Foster learning environments that offer training, resources, tools, and guidance to help organizations achieve quality improvement goals. Foster innovation in health care quality improvement and facilitate rapid adoption within and across provider networks, communities and support new payments and policies.
  • Strengthen Resiliency: Metrics, quality assurance and improvement programs, conditions of participation, and other actions that evaluate and promote the ability of health care systems and providers to be prepared for a changing health care ecosystem and flexible to adapt to future emergencies or challenges.
  • Increasing Alignment: Develop a seamless, coordinated, and transparent approach to align performance metrics, quality improvement efforts, programs, policy, and payment across public, quasi-government and the private sector to improve value.
  • Advance Health Equity including gender Equity and Social Inclusion: Seek to address the disparities and injustices that underlie and permeate the health system, both within and across settings, to ensure equitable access and care for all.

Specifically, the consultant will work with the MOH Review Team and other key Actors to:

  • Phase 1: Literature review, situational analysis, and agenda setting
    • Develop and implement an approach for conducting the assignment including the desktop review of existing documents, such as the evaluation report of the NHQS 2017 – 2021, to identify gaps of the NHQS and developing the review agenda,.
    • Support the orientation of the MOH Review Team on the approach to be followed to accomplish the assignment. The session should cover the assessment process, the tools to be used, among other related topics.
    • Support key Actor consultations to ensure inclusiveness in conducting the exercise.
    • Support the orientation of the Review Team on the approach to be followed to accomplish the assignment.
  • Phase 2: Support the MOH Review Team to develop and implement the NHQS review agenda
    • Organize and support the Review Team in writing different components of the strategic plan.
    • Support the review and consolidate submissions from different thematic groups.
    • Support the organization of a validation meeting on the new strategy.
    • Support to edit and format the draft strategic plan.

Deliverables:

  • Phase 1
    • Completed situational analysis of the implementation of the NHQS
    • Within two weeks of taking up the assignment, the TA will develop a detailed report outlining how the exercise will be conducted. The report will have a clear timeline on when the related activities will be executed.
    • Report on the general inception meeting with key Actors.
  • Phase 2
    • Report on dissemination of findings to relevant stakeholders
    • Draft review report of the NHQS
    • Final review report of the NHQS
    • Final Activity report

Required Skills or Experience

  • Master’s degree public health, or related health field.
  • Minimum of five years’ experience in the management of health services.
  • Experience in in health system strengthening, patient safety, and/or quality of care,
  • Demonstrated experience supporting and/or leading similar work, especially within the African Region.
  • Prior experience working with USAID and other international donors and knowledge of USAID and US Government policies and procedures.
  • Demonstrated experience in reviewing and supporting the development of patient safety/quality of care strategic documents.
  • Demonstrated knowledge of concepts and approaches related to patient safety, quality of health services, and integrated people-centered health services.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, especially in report writing.
  • Good facilitation, negotiation, and advocacy skills and ability to coordinate across interdisciplinary teams and articulate an agenda for policy, organizational and process change
  • Excellent analytical, communication, and presentation skills.
  • Ability to work in a complex environment with multiple tasks, short deadlines, and intense pressure to perform.

How To Apply

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