Tracks information about site infrastructure, including:

• site resources
• staff characteristics
• staff training
• target community characteristics
• funding resources
• collaborating agencies, hospitals, and medical clinics

Sites use this information to track staff development, manage collaborative relationships, and identify future resource needs.

Records a family's participation and progress in the HFA program, including:

• Participant demographics
• Screening, assessment, and intake of new participants
• Participant activities including home visits, medical visits, instrument administrations, and referrals
• Child activities, including well baby visits, immunizations, and child development screens

Sites use this information to manage their services, identify key participant characteristics, and evaluate the level and quality of services participants receive.

Common language
PIMS helps monitor and measure the impact of HFA using a standard set of core data elements. This common language makes it easier for HFA sites to share information about effective program features and partnerships at the state as well as the national levels. In 2004, PIMS sites were able to collaborate in completing the Healthy Families Implementation Study.

Accreditation
During HFA Quality Assurance and Accreditation, sites using PIMS can automatically generate virtually all of the quantitative reports they need. What would otherwise be a tedious data-gathering and calculation process is transformed into a report printing and verification process.

Better service to children & families
PIMS was designed as an integrated program and participant management system so that the links between HFA program characteristics and effective participant outcomes would become clearer. As these characteristics are identified, the services that HFA sites provide to children and families will better meet their needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is involved in developing PIMS?
PIMS was initially created by Prevent Child Abuse America staff, members of the HFA Research Network, and HFA sites across the country. The program is continually developed by Prevent Child Abuse America staff in response to feedback from PIMS trainers and current users of PIMS.

What kind of on-going support is offered to assist sites with installing and using PIMS?
Prevent Child Abuse America provides free support installing PIMS, as well as a comprehensive online User Guide. While states adopting PIMS typically develop their own support infrastructure, new sites are linked with the same technical resources available to these established states, including an end-of-year data quality check.

Is any software required to use PIMS?
Prevent Child Abuse America is currently seeking funding to migrate PIMS to a web-based system, which could be securely accessed anywhere across the internet. The current version of PIMS is a desktop database system which can be shared by multiple users across a network. Following are the minimum system requirements:

• PC compatibles using a Pentium 75 or higher microprocessor (Pentium 166 recommended)
• 64 MB recommended
• Microsoft Windows 95 operating system or later

In order to ensure successful implementation of PIMS, Prevent Child Abuse America requires sites adopting PIMS to cover costs associated with a mandatory 2-day training and first year technical assistance. While there is no charge for upgrades, sites are responsible for annual license fees to support ongoing development of the program.