State Systems Development Initiative Grant Program

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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), Division of State and Community Health (DSCH), is providing funds to support the State Systems Development Initiative (SSDI) Grant Program.  SSDI was launched in 1993 to complement the Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant Program and to combine the efforts of State MCH and Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Agencies.  In general, the purpose of the SSDI is to assist State MCH and CSHCN programs in the building of State and community infrastructure that results in comprehensive, community-based systems of care for all children and their families.  This funding opportunity announcement publicizes the availability of one-time supplemental funding for SSDI to support more timely provision of data from vital statistics and other data systems in order to facilitate State participation in a Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (CoIIN) to Reduce Infant Mortality. The CoIIN to Reduce Infant Mortality is a public-private partnership through which participating States address common priorities in a collaborative way using evidence-based strategies and the science of quality improvement (QI).  Topic-specific CoIIN Teams are comprised of representatives from all participating States and supported by content, data, and QI experts to facilitate rapid cycle improvements through technical assistance, a shared workspace and a data dashboard.  The availability of outcome data from sources such as the vital statistics system is essential to tracking States’ progress towards quality improvement aims related to State-identified priorities.  Currently, 19 States in the U.S. Public Health Regions IV, V, and VI are engaged in or initiating a CoIIN to reduce infant mortality and improve birth outcomes. The CoIIN to Reduce Infant Mortality engages participants in the full spectrum of change implementation – from defining the problem and crafting an intervention, through implementing and evaluating the intervention and, finally, to the diffusing and adapting effective innovations in new settings.  This funding will be used by participating States to develop, enhance, and/or support a data system that assures access to real-time data that will allow each State to measure its progress relative to the priority areas being addressed by each of the CoIIN strategy teams.  The real-time data collected will be consistent with the metrics established by each strategy team for measuring progress towards achieving the aim of the strategy team.

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