Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Improvement Stories

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IHI.org has two types of Improvement Stories:

IHI.org Stories that describe the changes and results in specific organizations.
Improvement Project Reports from IHI.org users that describe improvement projects in their organizations.

We all learn from others' experiences testing and implementing changes in real settings — who should be on the team; what measures were tracked; which changes worked best or didn't work at all; and what lessons were learned.

Improvement Project Reports, submitted by IHI.org users, accelerate our learning. In the spirit of "all teach, all learn," we encourage you to share your Improvement Report with the IHI.org community. Please click the Submit an Improvement Report button below.

Choose the story types you would like to see:

Improvement Project Reports
IHI.org Stories

only the story types I've requested

Good Heart Failure Care Follows Patients Home
Many health care providers are successfully employing a specific set of interventions to improve congestive heart failure care for patients in the hospital and after discharge, resulting in fewer hospitalizations and readmissions.

Integrated Counseling and Wellness Services in Primary Care
Grand Valley Health Plan (Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA) tripled the number of members accessing counseling and wellness services in three years by integrating these services into the group practice.

Improving Care for Patients with Anemia in Uzbekistan
A multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, and health managers in Ferghana, Uzbekistan, has improved health care for patients with anemia through the introduction of quality improvement process using evidence-based guidelines on anemia, decreasing the incidence rate of women diagnosed with anemia from a mean of 80 percent to 50 percent, and improving the rate of effective treatment of anemia (from mean of 35 percent to 60 percent).

CareSouth Carolina Increases Health Literacy Techniques Improving Patients’ Health and Self-Confidence
For patients with chronic conditions, giving patients the tools and support to manage their own care is an important part of being patient-centered — including addressing health literacy and communication issues.

Better Oral Health for Mothers and Children
Research shows that there is a connection between a pregnant woman’s oral health and her child’s well-being. To improve access to oral health services for low-income pregnant women and children ages 0 to 5, four community health centers are collaborating to bridge the gap between medical and dental care and to break the cycle of dental disease transmission from mother to child.

Using Health Literacy Principles to Improve Hypertension Treatment Compliance Rates and Patient Self-Confidence
CareSouth Carolina, Inc. (Hartsville, South Carolina, USA) tested the impact of visual handouts, created based on health literacy principles, on hypertension treatment compliance rates and patient self-confidence with promising early results.

Six Sigma Hypertension Management Project
PriMed Physicians (Dayton, Ohio, USA) set a goal that 90 percent of all patients diagnosed with hypertension will be at the JNC-7 pressure goal and, to date, 65 percent of all patients are at goal as compared to a national average of 31-34 percent.

When Less Is More: Reducing the Incidence of Antipsychotic Poly-Pharmacy
Since the introduction of an array of newer or “second-generation” antipsychotics over a decade ago, psychiatrists and primary care physicians are generally using ever-higher doses and ever-more complex combinations of these medications. The physicians’ rationale is that as long as psychotic symptoms remain, more medication is the necessary response — despite a wealth of studies of the older medications revealing that time-on-medication, not dosage, is usually the deciding factor.

IHI at Forefront of National Program to Advance Patient Self-Management of Care
Patients battling chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and HIV have complex and often overlapping medical needs that our health system has struggled to meet. General and family practice groups increasingly tap into new tools and strategies developed to help their patients with chronic conditions stay healthier, avoid hospitalizations, and remain engaged in their family lives, work and communities.

Profiles in Improvement: Dr. Bertha Safford from Whatcom County
Who’s improving health care? People are — at hospitals and in office practices all across the US and internationally. IHI decided to share the stories of these individuals. Here is a profile of Dr. Bertha Safford (Bellingham, Washington, USA).

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