Courses

IHI Breakthrough Series College

Format:

In-Person & Online

Begins:

Mar 12, 2026

**Duration:

6 weeks

Fee:

$4,995

Groups of 3 or more:

$4,246

Want to learn more? Join our informational call on January 8, 2026 3:00 PM-3:45PM ET

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Please review our Cancellation Policy

*Prices are listed in USD

**Plus one year of monthly calls after

What Is the Breakthrough Series College?

The Breakthrough Series College is a hands-on course that teaches participants how to run effective Collaboratives to reduce harm and waste while putting patients, students, and clients at the center of the work. Challenges abound in health care, education, and social services, including staffing shortages, burnout, waste, and complex systems with unreliable processes. While effective solutions may exist, they rarely reach consistent implementation at the frontlines of care delivery, education, and community services. To fill this gap, IHI developed the Breakthrough Series Collaborative model in 1995 to offer an improvement methodology that empowers health care, education, and social service agencies with the tools to achieve meaningful improvements in quality and efficiency.

Want to learn more? Join our informational call on January 8, 2026 3:00 PM-3:45PM ET

What You Will Learn

Faculty

Kelly McCutcheon Adams, MSW, LICSW, is a Senior Director at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and has been with IHI since 2004. She is the Director (and co-faculty) of the IHI Breakthrough Series College and the Director of the IHI Chief Quality Officer Professional Development Program. Ms. McCutcheon Adams has led and coached many BTS Collaboratives and has taught in the United States, Denmark, UK, and Australia. She is a medical social worker with experience in hospice, nursing homes, sub-acute rehabilitation, emergency department, and ICU settings. Ms. McCutcheon Adams served as faculty for the Organ Donation Collaborative of the US Department of Health and Human Services and for the Gift of Life Institute.

Sue Butts-Dion, s a quality improvement consultant with over 20 years of management consulting experience in health care. She successfully supports clients, including hospital systems and physician practices, in planning and implementing improvement objectives. Ms. Butts-Dion's practice areas include improvement planning, training, and group facilitation.

BTS Alumni Panel

Geoff Schierbeck, RN, is a Portfolio Liaison for Doctors of BC in Canada, a voluntary association of 14,000 physicians, residents, and medical students that aims to raise the standard of patient care in the province. Geoff serves as the Collaborative Director for the Surgical Patient Optimization Collaborative (SPOC) and is working with physicians in British Columbia to improve surgical care through quality improvement initiatives.

Juli Coleman, Ed.D, is currently the Chief of Improvement; School Networks for the CORE Districts. She leads a Network of over 40 high schools who are working together to change the life trajectories of students by transforming the 9th grade experience. Dr. Coleman coaches and builds the capacity of district and school teams on continuous improvement. She has worked in public education for over 30 years, which has spanned across K-12, regular and special education. She has worked in a variety of roles and schools including a Resource Specialist at an elementary school, Teacher on Special Assignment at a middle school, and a co-principal of a high school. Dr. Coleman has completed the Improvement Advisor course at IHI.

Who Should Attend

BTS Collaboratives address critical areas in need of improvement like maternal morbidity, heart failure, high school readiness, intimate partner violence services, suicide prevention, sepsis, homelessness, literacy, primary care access, and more. Collaboratives typically span 12-18 months, engaging 10-100 teams focused on closing the gap between current practices and evidence-based best practices to improve outcomes for patients, students, and clients.

Participants gain the practical tools and knowledge to implement sustainable solutions in their unique environments, making this program valuable for diverse professionals from multiple settings around the globe.

Making the Case: Download the Justification Letter to provide high-level information on the Breakthrough Series College course to your leadership.

Session Agenda

This program consists of 4 live online sessions, 2 two-day in-person sessions, and self-paced activities to be completed outside of the live sessions. Self-paced activities between sessions are required and should take no longer than five hours to complete in total across the College.

The agenda for the March 2026 offering is available to download: Breakthrough Series Agenda

Continuing Education

In support of improving patient care, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the health care team.

CE credits for this offering are pending.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement designates this blended learning activity for a maximum of 28 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This activity may also be applicable for other professions that accept AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.

A growing list of countries accept ACCME-accredited education.

As a result of this program, attendees will be able to:

Operate a Collaborative improvement project to improve processes and outcomes in clinical/healthcare and other settings.
Demonstrate the ability to teach and use the Model for Improvement (in the context of Collaborative improvement projects) for clinical/healthcare and other improvement projects.

Planning Commitee

Sue Butts-Dion, Improvement Advisor, IHI
Elena Origlio, Program Manager, IHI
Kelly McCutcheon Adams, LICSW, Senior Project Director, IHI
Patricia McGaffigan, RN, MS, CPPS, Vice President, IHI
Jeffrey Salvon-Harman, MD, Vice President, Safety, IHI

Disclosure: None of the planners, presenters, or staff for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

CE Instructions

In order to be eligible for a continuing education certificate, attendees must complete the online evaluation within 30 days of the continuing education activity. After this period, you will be unable to receive a certificate.

Continuing education credits will not be awarded for non-educational activities, including (and not limited to) meals, breaks and receptions.

Already attended?

To view continuing education (CE) credits and session materials:

Click on the "My IHI" link on the top of this page

Once you are logged in, click on the "Credits" tab to see CE information.

Click on the "My Participation" tab and then the button that says "My Materials" to see course materials.

Fees & Scholarships

Fee:

Regular Rate: $4,995 per person
Group Rate: $4,246 per person

Organizations sending three or more people can receive a 15% Group Discount. To register a group, fill out the Group Registration form.

Please note:

If you are eligible for a discount — because you qualify for a membership discount or have received a need-based scholarship — it will be automatically applied to your registration.

After checkout, you will receive a confirmation of purchase. You can also print an invoice from your online profile 24 hours after purchasing.

GSA Pricing For US Government

IHI offers GSA pricing for US government employees to enroll in this educational program. For more information and pricing, see IHI's GSA schedule.

Scholarships

IHI is pleased to offer a limited number of free and 25% scholarships to assist with program registration costs for those working in:

Independent, United States Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) that are not affiliated with a hospital or health system
Critical Access Hospitals
Independent practices with fewer than 20 physicians
Hospitals with fewer than 50 beds
Members of America's Essential Hospitals
501(c)(3) organization with a defined operating budget of less than $5 million, serving community-based populations
Ministries of Health
Faith-based health institutions
Skilled Nursing Facilities

All Scholarships are reviewed on an individual basis. If multiple individuals from the same organization wish to apply for a scholarship, everyone must submit an application. Group discounts are also available, see information above.

To ensure equal distribution of funds, all scholarships applications are reviewed using the same scoring criteria. All awarded amounts are final.

To apply for a scholarship, please complete the online Scholarship Application by February 25. 2026. IHI will not consider applications submitted after this date.

IHI will notify all applicants of their scholarship status by March 4, 2026.

Review IHI Cancellation Policy

Logistics

Location

Institute for Healthcare Improvement
53 State Street
18th Floor
Boston, MA 02109
United States

Recommended Hotels

Download a list of recommended hotels and discounts for the Breakthrough Series College

Need Help?

info@ihi.org

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IHI Breakthrough Series College