DNP students help local family clinic get NCQA recognition

Several Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students and faculty reach a milestone in a two-year DNP project that helped a local family care clinic establish National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recognition.

DNP students Nicola Archie, Whitney Griffith, Julianne Escoto and assistant professor, Ada Tapper, DNP, submitted an application to help Palma Ceia Family Care receive Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition from NCQA. They recently received final approval.

The focus of their project was to implement the PCMH model within the Palma Ceia Family Care practice and show why the clinic is eligible for PCMH recognition status. The PCMH recognition enables the clinic to improve patient outcomes, clinic infrastructure and provide accessible and coordinated care, under the NCQA guidelines.

Owned by Ryan Adami, DO, Palma Ceia is a family care clinic serving all ages in the South Tampa area. Palma Ceia is also a USF College of Nursing community partner.

(L to R). DNP students Nicola Archie, Julianne Escoto, Whitney Griffith, and assistant professor, Ada Tapper, DNP.

Dr. Tapper started this project in 2004 to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcome at the local level – based on recommendations from a group of 16 USF Nursing faculty members. Melanie Michael, DNP, assistant professor and senior assistant dean of the DNP program at USF Nursing, led Dr. Tapper and the students throughout the project.

“We’re so thankful to Dr. Michael,” Archie said. “We couldn’t have done it without her continued guidance and support. She is a great mentor, role model and faculty member.”

PCMH is a national innovative model of care which helps improve health care quality, safety, access, and cost-effectiveness. There are about 7,000 NCQA PCMH designated practices in the United States and more than 200 in Florida.

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