The following excerpt from the IHI Innovation System white paper presents five types of challenges inherent in most innovation systems and what IHI has learned about overcoming them.

At IHI, we talk about small tests of change and going incrementally forward. The mental model in improvement focuses on optimizing existing systems and eliminating defects. Innovation requires a different mental model — creation of something new and different from what we’ve experienced before.

Health insurers that measure quality, design financial incentive programs, and restructure payment models can play a pivotal role in helping care providers achieve the Triple Aim. At their best, payers can provide quality improvement support to providers as they change care delivery to meet the goals of value-based contracts.

It’s been a fruitful and inspiring year, with so much great new improvement content that it’s a challenge to choose “only ten” items to highlight at year’s end. But here, in no particular order, are some selections that we think are especially noteworthy. Revisit your favorites (or dig in for the first time, if you missed them before), share them with your colleagues, and use them to help kick-start your improvement efforts in the new year. From all of us at IHI, we wish you health and happy hol ... read full post

Many quality improvers know that data should help you understand your performance over time. But what if your data could show you the future? In this blog post, Andrey Ostrovsky, MD, a practicing physician and social entrepreneur, and Lynne Chase, Massachusetts Program Director of The New England Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization, explain how analytics are helping health systems improve outcomes for patients in crises — and transition from fee-for-service care into valu ... read full post