Include IPV and HT as health center quality improvement goals
Monitor quality of care by revisiting your Quality Assessment/Quality Improvement (QA/QI) tool, mandating training for all new staff, and offering refresher training annually for all staff. Support staff as they implement the new IPV and HT protocol through case consultations in morning huddles and reflective supervision. As your program advances, consider evaluating the impact your partnerships have on health outcomes of clients and conduct data review with other measures already collected, and assess for opportunities to align efforts with other existing priorities. Also work to integrate prompts and resources into your electronic health record and monitor your health IT systems to ensure privacy protections are being enforced to keep patient data safe and secure. Every year, revisit partnerships, policies, and formal memoranda of understanding (MOUs), with community-based DV/SA programs, as well as other or new organizations to support survivors of violence, with an aim to ensure crucial partnerships are in place to provide trauma-informed care for survivors.
Implementing morning huddles and changes to our EHR have helped us to focus on how we can consistently support IPV survivors.
— Abner Santiago, LPC, Behavioral Health Consultant, La Comunidad Hispana (Kennett Square, PA)
The terms intimate partner violence (IPV), domestic violence (DV) and domestic violence and sexual assault (DV/SA) will be used interchangeably throughout this toolkit.
Tools to support sustainability and quality improvement
- Quality improvement tools for health centers
Click to download - Privacy Principles for Protecting Survivors of Domestic Violence
Click to download
- Safeguarding health information in the explanations of benefits
Click to download - Reflective supervision questions
Click to visit - Coding and Documentation for Domestic Violence
Click to download
By doing this work…
Health centers are demonstrating their commitment to patient-centered care by helping prevent IPV and HT before they begin and by recognizing the impact IPV and HT have on health. Working together and coordinating efforts with community-based DV/SA programs helps reduce isolation and improve health and safety outcomes for survivors. Our vision is a future without violence that provides education, safety, justice, and hope for all.
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This website was developed in 2017 with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), and Family Violence Prevention and Services Program (FVPSA), Grant #90EV0414. Funding was also provided, in part, from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). As of 2023, updates to this website are made possible by HRSA’s Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) with funding totaling $682,548 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with no contributions from non-governmental sources. The content is the authors' responsibility and does not necessarily reflect the views of HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more details, visit www.HRSA.gov.