This article, published in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, reports methods and results of Alabama's continuous quality improvement (CQI) project and lessons learned in developing CQI capabilities among state and local public health practitioners. Some of the authors include Drs. Matthew Fifolt and Julie Preskitt, Ms. Heather Johnson, and Ms. Elisabeth Johns from the department of Health Care Organization and Policy in the UAB School of Public Health.

The Alabama team tracked CQI data weekly for the duration of the practicum using an annotated run chart. Participants included 20 identified tobacco users in 2 participating LIAs. This article highlights specific CQI tools to achieve the project aim. On the basis of CQI interventions, Alabama reached its goal; 12 of 20 primary caregivers in 2 home visiting programs made quit attempts.

The authors concluded that while Alabama utilized multiple CQI tools to reach an ambitious, behavior-based aim; these same concepts could be broadly applied to quality improvement initiatives in any federal or state public health program to guide process- and outcomes-based improvement efforts.