Assessing Results

When assessing the results of Women's Wellness Centers' activities, two evaluation tools have provided insight into the ability of WWCs to provide quality health services -- Monthly Data Report and Patient Satisfaction Survey. The Report, with some modification, appears capable of facilitating answers to the following questions:

• Are WWCs (collectively and individually) serving sizable numbers of women of all ages?



• Are WWCs growing or at least maintaining a patient base over time?



• What is the predominant reason for visits to a WWC? And what's the next most common reason, etc.? Are there changes occurring over time?



• Are WWCs engaging in health promotion, educational and outreach activities that promote health and prevent disease (primary prevention)?



• Are WWCs providing a comprehensive range of secondary prevention services (or early disease detection) and primary care consistent with the WWC model (including health education and counseling, prenatal care, reproductive health services, and treatment of common problems)? What is the relative magnitude of services compared to each other?



• Are WWCs providing, and are women taking advantage of, specific secondary prevention measures, such as the screening tests and diagnostic procedures utilized for detecting specific health problems, such as cancers and STIs?



• Are screening and diagnostic procedures resulting in significant health problems being found, and are these problems being detected earlier as time passes?



• What are the most common forms of contraception selected by WWC users?



• Does the activity of specific WWCs suggest growth, maintenance, or decline over time?

The other means of assessing results of the Women's Wellness Center's performance is the Patient Satisfaction Survey, which helps to assess the quality of care and WWCs' ability to serve women's health needs.

WWC Sustainability Strategies

Looking toward the future, Women's Wellness Centers need to develop a long-term strategy in order to continue to maintain and grow their services and patient base. The following recommendations suggest various directions WWCs can explore to help ensure their long-term sustainability:

• WWCs should work to gain or maintain distinctions related to high quality and high productivity. These distinctions should ensure continued support from funding and governmental sponsors.
• WWCs should ensure the means of assessing the expectations of key supporters (or stakeholders) such as government and hospital/health system sponsors, and they should ensure capabilities to meet these expectations.
• WWCs are encouraged to find allies among Ministries of Health, local governments, employers, NGOs, and others and to "partner" with them to improve financing of health care.
• Establishing patient fees and private (or voluntary) insurance
• Using contracts with employers under voluntary arrangements
• Gaining strong support among hospital and governmental sponsors
• Influencing the delivery of care and raising standards in their respective regions.