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Health Programs & Evaluation

Quality improvement for health programs and service organizations

Most performance problems live in everyday processes: handoffs, delays, missing information and workarounds. We help your team map how work really happens, choose measures, test changes on a small scale and keep the ones that work.

Discuss your project How the work is delivered

A good fit if

  • A process causes delays, errors or complaints, and nobody agrees on why.
  • You need to improve a measure your funder, payer or agency tracks.
  • Staff have improvement ideas but no structured way to test them.
  • You need improvement plans and documentation for a funder, board or accreditation review.
  • New systems or workflows were introduced and results have not improved.

Another approach may suit you better if

  • You need clinical guidance on treatment or care standards. That belongs with your clinical leaders.
  • You expect an outside team to impose changes without your staff. Lasting improvement needs the people who do the work.
  • You need someone to certify that you meet an accreditation standard. Only the accrediting body can do that.

What quality improvement is

Quality improvement is a structured way to make a process work better and to prove that it did. It starts with understanding how work really happens, sets a clear aim, tests practical changes on a small scale, and uses data to decide which changes to keep. It is ongoing work led by the people who do the job, not a one-time report.

The Model for Improvement from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement captures the core idea in three questions:

  1. What are we trying to accomplish?
  2. How will we know that a change is an improvement?
  3. What change can we make that will result in improvement?

Who needs it

  • Health departments and community programs improving how services are delivered and recorded.
  • Clinics and healthcare organizations working on access, scheduling, referrals or follow-up.
  • Nonprofits improving intake, case management or reporting processes.
  • Any service organization where delays, rework or errors affect the people it serves.

What we deliver

We help you choose one process that matters, understand it, and improve it with your staff. You get process maps, a small set of measures with baselines, an improvement plan, the results of each test of change and a dashboard to track progress. Data work is supported by our data analysis and reporting service, and when improvement needs better systems, our workflow automation and integration teams can help.

Demonstration, not a client project

Example aim and measures for a referral process

ElementExample
AimIncrease completed specialist referrals within 30 days from 55% to 75% by the end of the year
Outcome measureShare of referrals completed within 30 days
Process measureShare of referrals with all required information at first submission
Balancing measureStaff time spent per referral
First test of changeA referral checklist used by two staff members for two weeks

Getting started

Most projects begin with a current-state review of one process and the measures that matter for it. We then prepare a written scope with deliverables, responsibilities and costs in US dollars (USD). See our health and public sector page for how we work with agencies, health organizations and nonprofits.

What is included

The exact list is agreed in writing for each project. These are the usual deliverables and the usual boundaries.

Typical deliverables

  • A current-state assessment of the process, with the problems and their likely causes.
  • Process maps of how the work happens today and how the improved process should work.
  • A small set of measures, with definitions, baselines and targets.
  • An improvement plan with changes to test, owners and timelines.
  • Small-scale tests of change, with results recorded and reviewed.
  • A performance dashboard or run charts that show progress over time.
  • Array

Not included unless agreed separately

  • Clinical decisions or changes to clinical protocols.
  • Any promise of accreditation, reimbursement or a specific performance result.
  • Software licenses or new systems, unless scoped as a separate project.
  • Ongoing coaching after the agreed project period, unless agreed in writing.

What we will need from you

Most delays in this kind of work come from access and decisions, not from the technical build. Knowing these early keeps the project predictable.

  • A sponsor with authority to approve changes.
  • Staff who do the work, with time set aside to map the process and test changes.
  • Access to the data needed for the measures.
  • Any funder, payer or accreditation requirements that apply.
Delivery

How the work is delivered

Each stage ends with something you can review before the next one starts.

  1. Understand the current state

    Map the process with the people who do it, collect baseline data and identify where it breaks down.

    Output: Current-state assessment and process map.

  2. Set the aim and measures

    Agree what you are trying to accomplish, by how much and by when, and how you will know a change is an improvement.

    Output: Aim statement, measures and baselines.

  3. Test changes

    Try changes on a small scale, study the results and decide whether to adopt, adapt or drop each one.

    Output: Test log and results.

  4. Implement and track

    Roll out the changes that work, update procedures and training, and track the measures over time.

    Output: Updated process, dashboard and run charts.

  5. Sustain

    Agree who monitors the measures, how often, and what happens if performance slips.

    Output: Sustainment plan and documentation.

Testing and handover

  • Every change adopted has data showing it helped, not only opinions.
  • Measures have written definitions, baselines and named owners.
  • Updated procedures and training materials reflect the new process.
  • Your team can keep tracking the measures after we leave.

What affects the cost

We do not publish package prices. Each estimate is based on an agreed scope, in US dollars, with taxes shown separately. These are the things that move the number most:

  • The number of processes, sites and teams involved.
  • Whether baseline data already exists.
  • The number of improvement cycles in scope.
  • Documentation and reporting requirements.
  • The length of the support period.

Questions buyers usually ask

What method do you use?

We use simple, widely used methods: process mapping, clear measures tracked over time and small tests of change. Many healthcare organizations know this approach from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Model for Improvement, which pairs three questions with Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles.

Can you help us prepare for accreditation?

We can help you organize measures, improvement plans and documentation that support your accreditation work. Your organization remains responsible for meeting the standards, and only the accrediting body can decide whether you do.

How do you involve our staff?

Staff who do the work help map the process, suggest changes and run the tests. Improvements designed with them are more practical and more likely to last.

Do we need new software?

Usually not at the start. Most improvement work begins with better processes and simple tracking. If the process needs a new system or an integration, our business systems team can scope it separately.

Is a process holding your program back?

Tell us which process causes the most trouble and how you measure it today. We will reply to arrange a conversation about a first improvement project.

Discuss a quality improvement project