Improvement work thrives with a team. People involved in parts of the process or system that you are trying to improve bring diverse perspectives and expertise that can fuel more effective ideas for change that are more likely to be sustained while building will to make improvements. 

When forming a team, it is vital to apply an equity lens to identify team members and to engage the individuals who will most benefit from the improvement on the team. 

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An aim statement answers the first question of the Model for Improvement: What are we trying to accomplish? 

The aim: 

• Is time-bound and measurable (how much? by when?) 
• Defines the specific population whose lives will be affected by the improvement effort
• Identifies where the improvement is taking place

Engage the individuals who will most benefit from the improvement in defining the aim.

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Measures help teams answer the second question of the Model for Improvement: How will we know that a change is an improvement? 

Teams use feedback in the form of quantitative and qualitative data to learn if a specific change leads to an improvement. Ensure that the individuals who will most benefit from the improvement contribute to identifying measures that reflect improvement from their perspective.

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To answer the third question of the Model for Improvement — What change can we make that will result in improvement? — teams identify potential ideas for change. 

Ideas for change may come from those who provide input into, work in, or are recipients or customers of the system, or from the experience of others who have successfully improved. Engage the individuals who will most benefit from the improvement in identifying and co-designing potential changes.

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The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is shorthand for testing a change on a small scale (e.g., one patient, one day) in the real-world setting — by planning it, trying it, observing the results, and acting on what is learned. This is the scientific method adapted for action-oriented learning.

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After testing a change on a small scale, learning from each test, refining the change through multiple PDSA cycles, and testing under varying conditions (morning/night, holiday/non-holiday, etc.), the team will want to implement changes they are confident will result in improvement. “Implementing” means making the changes permanent by establishing the infrastructure necessary to support and sustain those changes over time. 

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After successful implementation of a change or set of changes for one population or unit, the team can then spread the changes to other parts of the organization or to other organizations.

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The business case methodology will help an organization seeking to become an Age-Friendly Health System identify the relevant data, analyze it, and describe its financial implications.

Download the Business Case

Organizations may use the accompanying ROI Calculators with their own data to eva​luate their Age-Friendly programs.

*For best results, please use Google Chrome to download the ROI Calculators

• Inpatient ROI Calculator
• Inpatient ROI Calculator Instructions
• Outpatient ROI Calculator
• Outpatient ROI Calculator Instructions

​Video Demonstration​ of ROI Calculators

• Send representatives to two in-person meetings throughout the year
• Invite staff from your organisation to contribute to All-Alliance webinars
• Active participation in the selection and success of workgroups
• Courage and boldness toward the Alliance's aspirations to improve

The group’s learning opportunities are driven by and for members with a focus on innovations relevant to system challenges in Europe. Benefits for members include:

• Direct access to health care organisations leading in improvement
• Opportunities to develop professional networks with members
• Unlimited organisational participation in collaborative harvesting, designing, and testing
• Unlimited organisational participation in workgroups, virtual meetings, email listserv, and virtual workspace

Additional Membership Benefits​

• Organisational representation two in-person meetings throughout the year
• Access to IHI experts and resources during in-person meetings, virtual All-Alliance webinars, and at IHI Forums
• Permission to use Health Improvement Alliance Europe Member badge on social media, email signatures, and other relevant resources
• 15% discount to attend these IHI conferences:
  • IHI Forum (held annually in December in the United States)
  • IHI/BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare (held annually in April in Europe)

The enrolment fee is $12,000 USD per organisation. If your organisation joins before 30 June 2025, the fee is $10,200 USD.

The next wave of this program begins in October 2025. 

• Please email europeteam@ihi.org to learn more about joining next fall or to speak with a member of the IHI team. ​
• Download the prospectus for additional information​​

IHI may, in its discretion, cancel, postpone, or otherwise modify this event at any time, with or without notice. If IHI does so and as a result, a registrant is unable to participate in the event, IHI will refund the registration fee. The registrant, however, will remain responsible for other costs (such as travel and lodging) the registrant incurs in connection with the event, and IHI will not refund the registrant, nor otherwise be responsible for, such costs. Registrants should proceed accordingly and consider travel/lodging cancellation policies — as well as purchasing travel insurance — when incurring such costs. IHI asks registrants to take into consideration the currently evolving situation and advisories related to Coronavirus before incurring travel, lodging, and other costs related to this event.

Through a series of virtual or in-person meetings, webinars and workgroups, recent initiatives have focused on achieving the best care at affordable cost in the face of changing demographics, increasing chronic illness, and economic challenges, including:

• An escalation in health care costs and simultaneous government and regional spending cuts
• An aging population
• An increase in the number of service users with chronic diseases
• Long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic 

To foster collaboration among members, the IHI Health Improvement Alliance Europe operates under the following principles:

• Accept and encourage messiness: The pathway to health care improvement is challenging; in order to progress we must accept that the way forward will be messy and encourage bold new ideas that add to the messiness.
• Share assets and ideas: Everyone has something to share, and when we share f​reely and openly we accelerate the pace of testing, change, and improvement.
• Radiate authenticity: This is a safe space for you to be your authentic self, in the spirit of well-being.
• Build strong relationships: We are more generative, impactful, and bold when we work together, across silos, and between regions.
• Practice “all teach, all learn”: We are all willing to teach and be taught, drawing upon the collective knowledge and experience we share as an Alliance. We learn across cultures and share knowledge across all health systems, leveraging our collective cultural identities and regional differences.
• Centre on equity: Continually practice our equity guidelines as we work to advance equity as individual leaders, within our member organisations, and in partnership with local community actors.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The IHI Health Improvement Alliance Europe meets in-person, virtually, and within work groups throughout the year to ensure members have the space and time to interact with each other, strengthen connections, and maintain the momentum of the Alliance.

The Alliance’s two in-person meetings are crafted to allow members time to learn from each other using interactive activities and different styles of presentations. Meetings often take place at member sites and include a portion of the day dedicated to reviewing local solutions that tie back to the​ Alliance’s work.

Several times a year, members will convene virtually on 90-minute All-Alliance webinars. In these virtual meetings, members have the opportunity to share their work and learn from experts in the field.

Alliance members can invite an unlimited number of staff from their organisations to participate in these virtual sessions.

In addition to the All-Alliance activities, IHI convenes member workgroups around specific topics selected by members. In 2024–2025, the workgroup topics will be:

• Staff Wellbeing Collective Impact
• Creating, Leading and Sustaining a Culture of Quality working group

Each workgroup is supported by an IHI staff member and driven by members. The groups articulate their aims, set the rhythm for their connections, and share their progress during all-member webinars, workgroup specific calls, and in-person meetings.

IHI hosts joint networking receptions for members of th​e IHI Health Improvement Alliance Europe and the IHI Leadership Alliance at these annual conferences:

• IHI Forum (December in the United States)
• IHI/BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare​ (April or May in Europe)

The IHI Leadership Alliance is a US-based collaboration of health care executives who share a goal to work with one another as well as in partnership with patients, workforces, and communities to deliver on the full promise of the IHI Triple Aim.

Alliance members participate in a variety of engagement activities throughout the program year. Learn more in the Leadership Alliance Prospectus.

The 2024–2025 membership year of the IHI Leadership Alliance began in October 2024. To learn more about the Alliance and how your organization can join this remarkable group of health care innovators, please email David Coletta, IHI Executive Director, Alliance Development dcoletta@ihi.org). 

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View an example IHI Leadership Alliance in-person meeting agenda

Examples of 2023–2024 Leadership Alliance Virtual Programs

Facilitated by Don Berwick, these quarterly webinar discussions focus on top-of-mind, current event issues and provide Alliance members with access to innovative leaders and national authorities both in and outside of health care. Roundtable speakers included Eric Topol, MD (Scripps), Sachin Jain, MD (SCAN Health Plan), and Brenda Battle (UChicago Medicine).

In addition to the in-person and virtual engagement, members channel their insights and experiences into developing a “collective voice” within the Alliance, contributing their thought leadership via meetings with key stakeholders, published reports, journal articles, as well as traditional and social media.

Learn more about Breaking the Rules for Better Care and download the step-by-step resource guide to plan and host a "Breaking the Rules" initiative in your own organization.

Learn more about the Help Health Care Heal Coalition, a special interest Call to Action initiative hosted by the IHI Leadership Alliance to collaboratively identify opportunities to remove barriers to physicians seeking mental health care.

Learn more about publications and resources stemming from the work of the IHI Leadership Alliance.