These draft change ideas to reduce hospital mortality are being tested and refined by teams in IHI's IMPACT Learning and Innovation Community on Reducing Hospital Mortality Rates.

The "boxes" mentioned in the document refer to an analytical framework that places hospital deaths into four categories, each of which have associated strategies for improvement.

• Box 1: Admitted to an intensive care unit for comfort care only
• Box 2: Admitted to a non-intensive care unit (for example, a medical/surgical floor) for comfort care only
• Box 3: Admitted to an intensive care unit for active treatment
• Box 4: Admitted to a non-intensive care unit for active treatment