The Center for Public Health Innovation (CPHI) at CI International has had a strong impact in the field of public health newborn screening. Identifying affected babies accurately and in a timely manner can save lives.

We have partnered with key stakeholders throughout the U.S. to identify the challenges and related solutions in the newborn screening system. Through our work, specimens are collected earlier, arrive at the lab faster, and the results are sent to the physicians sooner. Babies’ lives are saved.

Through a network of continuous quality improvement activities, we have coached newborn screening programs to identify their biggest challenges and subsequently identify activities to address them. We have helped programs to educate birthing centers on the appropriate processes for collecting and shipping newborn screening specimens. The Operating Hours and Courier Toolkit provides fundamental resources for programs to decrease the time from collection of the specimen to receipt at the lab, while the Building Blocks Toolkit presents tools for the transfer of data through health information technology approaches.

We have also developed interactive visualizations that allow programs to make real-time decisions on programmatic activities. All of these tangible activities have stemmed from an intangible success of CPHI’s work: the community of practice that we are continuing to build in the newborn screening arena. The strength of our successes comes from the power of bringing people together to work towards a common solution.

Ready to start writing your own success story? Contact CI today.