In 2025, the Public Health Services Council (PHSCO) and the Ohio Public Health Institute launched a collaborative initiative to provide Quality Improvement (QI) training to local health departments across the state. Designed by PHSCO Executive Director Anne Goon in partnership with Hollingsworth Consulting, the program delivers foundational Yellow Belt training and advanced Green Belt certification. Through hands‑on projects, participants produce measurable outcomes that fulfill Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) accreditation and reaccreditation requirements.

The success of the pilot, hosted in Guernsey County and Clark County, led to the expansion of additional cohorts in Cuyahoga and Fulton counties: broadening geographic access for health departments throughout Ohio. “In all, there have been nearly 90 participants across 25 local health departments to date,” Goon noted.

Using tools such as value stream mapping, time series charts, Pareto charts, and Gemba Walks, participants in the initial cohort documented significant improvements and demonstrated the program’s practical impact.

  • Cuyahoga County Board of Health decreased the Purchase Requisition to Purchase Order process from 10.17 days to 5.93 days
  • Massillon City Health Department improved the Customer Service Survey Response rate from 2.88% completion to 35.75% completion
  • New Philadelphia City Health Department reduced calls to Environmental Health Director by 15%

“From small rural health departments to major metropolitan departments, the outcomes achieved through the real-world projects that participants completed illustrate the success of this innovative collaboration,” Hollingsworth explained. He went on to share additional tools, such as 5 Whys, Solution Matrix, Fishbone Diagram, among others, were introduced and utilized by participants to yield impressive outcomes such as:

  • City of Cincinnati Health Department increased the percentage of Outbreak Investigation Report submission within 30 days from 39% to 100%
  • Clark County Combined Health Department reduced the time to complete daily pay-in process from 59.6 minutes to 36.9 minutes, saving 22.7 minutes
  • Columbus Public Health Department increased the Customer Satisfaction Survey response rates by 436% in one month

“Participant pride in the completed projects, consensus on program outcome measures, and the strong organizational capacity built are immeasurable,” Goon shared. She added that the 100% completion rate for Green Belt certification, coupled with measurable outcomes across every project, demonstrates how this collaboration has exceeded expectations. "We are excited to expand our partnership with Hollingsworth Consulting LLC as we enhance our services to meet local health departments' emerging needs in innovation, quality improvement, and performance management."

With any strong pilot project both successes and lessons learned are important. Click here to read about the lessons participants learned, and how the program adapted to see greater success beyond the initial pilot.