To effectively meet the demands of the job, Improvement Advisors (IAs) need a solid foundation, advanced knowledge and skills in the art and science of improvement. They also need the ability to work with and coach front-line teams in achieving and maintaining successful changes. IAs communicate effectively with senior management to summarize progress on improvement projects and clearly articulate needed sponsorship and support when projects stall.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) offers the Improvement Advisor Professional Development Program to help individuals in this critical role build and hone such skills. This richly-packed, 10-month program is an “all teach, all learn” experience that offers:

• The advanced knowledge and skills you need to excel in the art and science
  of improvement
• Instruction on how to use a framework comprising practical skills and
  theory to drive whole system changes
• A collaborative learning environment and actionable ideas that will help you
  achieve maximum results

Each participant is required to direct one or more improvement projects (connected to her or his organization’s business plan) during the program. The project provides a double benefit — a chance to achieve results in an active improvement project and a living laboratory to apply learning. The improvement project may be in any one of three categories:

• Improving quality of care and services
• Reducing costs while maintaining or improving quality
• Expanding patient or customer satisfaction with the development of new
  services or innovative ways of providing existing services

The design of this program allows participants to achieve maximum results by immediately applying the skills they learn to everyday work situations.
It is this combination of theory applied to daily work that makes the Improvement Advisor Professional Development Program unique and provides a foundation for making improvements long after the program is completed.

Health care professionals who are currently regarded as leaders of improvement efforts within the organization and want to deepen their knowledge and enhance their effectiveness in this role should attend this program. Often these individuals hold titles such as:

David M. Williams, PhD, Improvement Advisor, DMW/Austin, is a scholar-practitioner in the science of improvement. He supports individuals and teams in learning the theories and methods of the science of improvement to enhance processes and systems. He works with leaders pursuing Quality as an Organizational Strategy (QOS). He supports IHI’s work as an improvement advisor and is faculty for the IHI Improvement Advisor Professional Development Program. Previously, he was Senior Lead in Improvement Science and Methods at IHI and developed the IHI Chief Quality Officer Professional Development Program. A paramedic by background, Dr. Williams practiced in urban EMS systems for many years and is an expert on paramedic care and emergency medical services systems. 

Rebecca Steinfield, MA, Senior Director and Improvement Advisor, has been with IHI since 1996.  She currently serves as Director of IHI’s Improvement Advisor Professional Development Program, teaches IHI courses on improvement methods, and mentors “improvers-in-training.” Rebecca sits on IHI’s Improvement Science and Methods team and serves as an Improvement Advisor on results-oriented work.

Jane Taylor, EdD, Improvement Advisor and Learning Designer, supports learning collaboratives and innovation projects by providing expertise in improvement approaches and measurement. She has advised collaboratives for both adult and pediatric populations. She is interested in the integration of transformative learning, improvement science, and clinical improvement as well as engaging persons in their care. Jane has an EdD from Columbia University, Teachers College in Adult Learning and Leadership. In her spare time, she plays the violin and is a competitive amateur ballroom dancer. Jane is a trusted friend and colleague to many; a sister, wife and aunt.

Lloyd P. Provost, Statistician and Senior Improvement Advisor at Associates in Process Improvement, helps individuals and organizations learn the science of improvement to enhance their processes and systems. Mr. Provost's experience is in applications of statistical process control and in designing research and quality improvement studies. For the past 16 years, he has worked as an IHI Senior Fellow as an improvement advisor. He also serves on the IHI faculty for the Improvement Advisor Development Program, provides improvement advisor support for IHI's developing countries programs, and coordinates the development and work of other improvement advisors that support IHI. He provides support for the QI curriculum for the IHI Open School. Mr. Provost co-authored the books Quality Improvement Through Planned Experimentation, The Improvement Guide, and The Health Care Data Guide. 

​Due to the intensity of this program and the work on real improvement projects for the client organizations, the class size is limited.

Registration and pre-program assessments are currently being accepted on a rolling admission. This program usually fills up fast, we, therefore, encourage interested participants to register and send in their pre-program assessments as soon as possible. ​

• IA Application
• IA Knowledge Self-Assessment Form​

Please refer to the Glossary of Terms to complete the self-assessment and read the Improvement Project Selection Guide​ for more information on appropriate project criteria and guidelines.

Please email the completed IA Application and the IA Knowledge and Self-Assessment Form to:​

Elena Origlio, Senior Project Manager
Email: improvementprograms@ihi.org​
Phone: +1 617-391-9946

Keynote Speakers
 

Dan Heath is the #1 New York Times bestselling author (or co-author) of five beloved business books: Switch, Made to Stick, Decisive, The Power of Moments, and Upstream.  His books have been translated into 33 languages and have sold over 4 million copies worldwide. His writing honors include: One of the best nonfiction books of the year, according to Amazon. One of the best audiobooks of the year, according to Apple. And the OWL award for Best Business Book of the Year. Dan hosts a podcast called: “What It’s Like to Be.” In every episode, he interviews someone from a different profession: a mystery novelist, a couples therapist, a rancher, and more. It landed on Apple’s ranking of the Top 50 Society & Culture podcasts. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin.  He lives now in Durham, North Carolina. 

Patricia McGaffigan MS, RN, CPPS is President, Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety, and Senior Advisor, Safety at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement where she serves as senior sponsor of the IHI’s Lucian Leape Institute, co-chair of the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety, and key liaison to IHI’s strategic relationships and initiatives for nursing and advancing a thriving workforce. She is the former COO and SVP of Safety at the National Patient Safety Foundation, graduate of the AHA-NPSF Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship Program and IHI Fellow, and nationally recognized speaker. Patricia serves on numerous national committees, taskforces, and technical expert panels, including the AHRQ Survey of Patient Safety Culture Technical Expert Panel, and the Joint Commission’s Journal on Quality and Patient Safety Editorial Advisory Board and Sentinel Event Alert Advisory Committee. Patricia is Commissioner, ANCC Pathway to Excellence, board member of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors, the Foundation to Advance Nursing in Massachusetts, and the I-PASS Institute, and a member of Planetree’s Person-Centered Certification Committee. She is the recipient of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Lifetime Member Award, the 2023 University of North Texas Health Science Center’s Mary E. Luibel Distinguished Service Award and was named to the 2024 and 2023 Becker’s Review List of Patient Safety Experts to Know. Patricia received her BS in Nursing from Boston College and her MS in Nursing from Boston University.

Kelly Randall VP, Patient Safety & Compliance, Ascension. Kelly earned her PhD in Health Services Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In her research, she studied the impact of high reliability practices on patient safety outcomes in pediatric hospitals. Kelly earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Auburn University and her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Alabama. Kelly is a Licensed Master’s Social Worker and a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality. Kelly has extensive training as a Six Sigma Blackbelt and in Lean Six Sigma Healthcare.

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Beverly Malone President and CEO, National League for Nursing, has led the National League for Nursing since 2007. She received her BSN and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Cincinnati and her M.S. in Adult Psychiatric Nursing from Rutgers University. She contributed to the groundbreaking IOM report, "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health," and served on the Minority Health Federal Advisory Committee. With over 20 honorary degrees and numerous accolades, Dr Malone’s distinguished career has blended policy, education, administration, and clinical practice – including the position of federal deputy assistant secretary for health under President Bill Clinton.  Dr. Malone serves as vice chair at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Board of Directors, co-leads the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Health Professional Education and Communication Working Group, and serves on NAM’s Steering Committee. She is a member of ecoAmerica’s Leadership Circle Executive Committee. 

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Charleen Tachibana Senior Vice President and Chief Quality, Safety and Patient Experience Officer, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, has served in executive positions including Hospital Administrator, Chief Nursing Officer, and most recently SVP and Chief Quality, Safety, and Patient Experience Officer for Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. Virginia Mason earned recognition for its innovative approach to quality and safety by adopting a management methodology to identify and eliminate waste while improving quality and safety. For two decades her work has included the study and application of the Toyota Production System to healthcare processes. She has taught and consulted internationally on this topic. Charleen earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Pacific Lutheran University, a Master of Nursing from the University of Washington and her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Vanderbilt University. She is a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

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Hardeep Singh Chief, Health Policy, Quality and Informatics Program, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, is Professor of Medicine at the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (IQuESt) at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. He leads research on diagnostic error reduction and health IT safety, influencing national and international initiatives by organizations like the National Academies, CDC, and WHO. A Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, he co-developed the ONC SAFER Guides, required by CMS for safe EHR use. He has won numerous awards, including the 2021 Eisenberg Award for Lifetime Achievement, for his contributions to patient safety and diagnostic excellence.

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Craig Umscheid Director, Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, is an internist and clinical epidemiologist who serves as the Director of the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (CQuIPS) at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CQuIPS is one of three research centers at AHRQ, includes divisions of patient safety, patient safety organizations, healthcare associated infections, healthcare data and analytics, and quality improvement and measurement, and supports the safety and quality of healthcare through research, practice improvement, and data analysis and measurement. Prior to AHRQ, Dr. Umscheid was Chief Quality and Innovation Officer at the University of Chicago. He began his career at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the inaugural Vice Chair of Quality and Safety for the Department of Medicine, and co-founder and Director of Penn's Center for Evidence-based Practice. His career has been dedicated to disseminating and implementing research evidence into clinical practice to support patient care quality and safety. His work has been supported by AHRQ, PCORI, CDC and NIH, and described in over 125 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Umscheid volunteers as a hospitalist at Georgetown, where he is an Adjunct Professor.

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Angela Ghiorso MSN, RN, CPPS, CPHQ, CCM, Director of Quality & Patient Safety, Sutter Valley Medical Foundation, is a Clinical Director of Ambulatory Quality and Patient Safety for Sutter Health in California. She has 17 years of diverse experience as a registered nurse in acute, ambulatory and home health settings, and has spent the last 8 years specializing in quality and patient safety. Angela currently serves on a national quality measure review committee, national patient safety workgroups, and was an IHI Fellow in 2024. Her credentials, including a Master of Science in Nursing, and certifications in Patient Safety (CPPS), Case Management (CCM) and Healthcare Quality (CPHQ), underscore her commitment to ensuring safe and high-quality care delivery for all patients.

Featured Speakers
 

Chris Longhurst MD, MS, is the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Chief Digital Officer (CDO) at UC San Diego Health. This unique dual and complementary role provides leadership to medical staff, ensuring that standards and protocols are in place to provide the highest quality of care to patients, and positions digital transformation as a key tool in these efforts. As the executive Director for the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Center for Health Innovation, Dr. Longhurst also has responsibility for the artificial intelligence (AI) portfolio across the health system, managed through the development and hire of the inaugural Chief AI Officer for UC San Diego Health.

Within the UC San Diego School of Medicine, Dr. Longhurst serves as an Associate Dean to help align education and research missions within the clinical environment and lead the journey to become a highly reliable, learning health system. As a faculty member in the Departments of Biomedical Informatics and Pediatrics, Dr. Longhurst also maintains an active clinical practice as a newborn hospitalist and vigorously pursues scholarship in care quality, patient safety, and informatics, especially healthcare AI.

Raj Srivastava, MD, MPH, is the Chief Clinical Programs Officer at Intermountain Health, where he oversees nine system-wide Clinical Programs which align clinical providers from across the enterprise to deliver evidence-based best practice in the areas of acute and ambulatory medical specialties, behavioral health, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neurosciences, oncology, primary and preventive care, surgical specialties and digestive health, and women’s and neonatal health. Additionally, Dr. Srivastava is a Professor of Research and oversees Intermountain’s Healthcare Delivery Institute (HDI), a center for education, implementation science, and applied health services research. The HDI has accountability for the spread of clinical evidence-based practices across the integrated healthcare delivery system. Dr. Srivastava is a tenured Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah in the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine and is a practicing hospitalist at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.

Enter the portal below to access the full conference agenda. Sort by experience level or highlight sessions focused on diagnostic excellence:

Access 2025 IHI Congress Agenda

Print and share the Agenda brochure below:

Download the 2025 Agenda Overview Brochure

Continuing Education: View Credit Breakdown by Session here

Fees

Scholarships

We are pleased to offer a limited number of 25% and 50% scholarships to assist individuals with conference registration costs. This cost is taken off of the full general conference price of $1,125.

Please note, scholarships are available for general conference registration costs only, and do not cover travel, food, or accommodation costs associated with attendance.

Scholarship Deadline: January 31, 2025

To apply for a scholarship for the IHI Patient Safety Congress you must work in one of the settings listed below or be a full- or part-time (two or more classes) student, resident, or full-time dean/faculty at an academic institution.

• 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

Apply for an IHI program scholarship

All scholarships are reviewed on an individual basis. If multiple individuals from the same organization wish to apply for a scholarship, each individual must submit an application. Scholarship Applications are due January 31, 2025. Individuals will be notified by February 7, 2025.

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

Offering reach and visibility truly unique in the marketplace, the widely respected and much admired IHI Patient Safety Congress continues to set the standard for delivering access and unmatched networking value for sponsors as well as educational excellence and real-world solutions for attendees.

Download the IHI Congress Supporter Prospectus

Contact Us

We welcome a conversation to discuss how you can best leverage the IHI Congress to advance your organization’s work, mission, and business imperatives.

Contact:
David Coletta
Executive Director, Alliance Development
dcoletta@ihi.org

Congress attendees can select from two Pre-Conference Workshops for an additional fee:

Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) Review Course

This course can help participants prepare for the Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) examination by reviewing domain content areas and test-taking strategies.

After this session attendees will be able to:

1.) Review the four patient safety domains, following the exam content outline
2.) Discuss patient safety scenario examples similar to actual exam questions
3.) Assess their own level of preparedness for the exam and address additional areas for self study

Learn more about the CPPS certification here.

Certified Professional in Human Factors in Healthcare (CPHFH) Review Course

The course can help participants prepare for the Certified Professional in Human Factors in Healthcare (CPHFH) examination by reviewing domain content areas and test-taking strategies.

After this session attendees will be able to:

1.) Review the three human factors in healthcare domains, following the exam content outline
2.) Discuss human factors in healthcare scenario examples similar to actual exam questions
3.) Assess their own level of preparedness for the exam and address additional areas for self-study

Learn more about NEW the CPHFH certification here.

In support of improving patient care, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) 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.

View Credit Breakdown by Session here

The 2025 Congress is approved to provide credit for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, quality professionals and Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) recertification. Maximum credit amounts vary by profession.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement designates this blended learning activity for a maximum of 20 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™.

This activity is approved by NAHQ® for 20 CPHQ CE credits.

As a Jointly Accredited Organization, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive up to 14 general continuing education credits.

Credit Breakdown

Maximum Credits Available by Day and Credit Type:

Pre-Conference Sunday

• Physician 7.75
• Nursing 7.75
• Pharmacist 7.75
• CPPS Recertification 7.75
• Social Work 7
• Quality Professionals 7.75

General Conference

• Physician 12.25
• Nursing 11.5
• Pharmacist 12.25
• CPPS Recertification 12.25
• Social Work 7
• Quality Professionals 12.25

Steering committee

• Patricia McGaffigan, RN, MS, CPPS, Vice President, IHI
• Jill Duncan, RN, MS, MPH, Vice President, IHI
• Britney Pierre, RN, MAS, BSN, Senior Project Manager, IHI
• Jeff Salvon-Harman, MD, CPE, CPPS, Vice President of Safety, IHI

Disclosure Statement

If applicable, individual presenters have disclosed any relevant financial relationships with companies defined as ineligible by ACCME in the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. Any conflicts are noted within the session slide decks and have been mitigated. All other planners (including those listed above), presenters, and staff for this educational activity have disclosed no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used on or by patients.