Quality Improvement

Make your Quality Improvement projects stick

Equipping teams to lead the people side of quality improvement, from pilot to practice.

Self-paced change management modules plus two coaching sessions, layered onto the improvement method your teams already use: PDSA cycles, a Lean Six Sigma belt program, or both. Built for hospitals, health centers, community mental health centers, and the nonprofits that address housing, food, and other social determinants of health.

Lean - PDSA Six Sigma - DMAIC

Need something to send your CEO? Read the one-page overview →

What is change management?

What it is

The discipline of helping people adopt and keep a change: who sponsors it, what staff need to hear and learn, where resistance will come from, and what holds the new way in place. It is the people side of improvement, and it sits alongside the process side.

Why it matters

Most improvements that fade did not fail on the design. They failed on adoption, usually months after the project closed and the attention left with it.

When to apply it

From the first phase, not the last. The sponsor, the affected groups, and the definition of "adopted" belong in Define or Plan. Reinforcement belongs in Control or Act, but it is planned at the start.

Want the longer version? Matt's short guide, A Leader's Introduction to Organizational Change Management, is on Amazon.

Improvement methods teach the process side. Change Management is for the people side.

A project can have a clear aim, solid data, and a proven fix, and still fade within months because the staff who run the process were never brought along. Belt curricula and PDSA guides go deep on aims, measures, root cause, and control plans. Sponsorship, resistance, and reinforcement get a mention.

That gap is where good improvements go to die. These modules close it without touching the method you already use.

Short modules, mapped to the methodology you already use

Each module introduces the change management tools for that phase, shows how they pair with the improvement tools your learners already use, and gives them a worksheet to apply on a live project. See how the tools map to each phase:

Lean - PDSA Six Sigma - DMAIC

What you get

Six or seven self-paced modules, 25 to 40 minutes each, following your method: Plan, Do, Study, Act, or Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control, with an introduction and a wrap-up.
A worksheet for every module, applied to a live improvement project. No project underway? Choose from our healthcare scenarios instead.
Two 45-minute coaching sessions with your cohort, where we work through applying change management to your actual project.
A facilitator guide so your quality lead can run a short huddle after each module.
A certificate of completion for each learner, with hours listed, for your training records.
Delivery on our learning platform. SCORM files for HealthStream, Relias, or your own LMS are available under an annual license that includes two content updates a year.

Nursing contact hours are not offered yet.

How it fits your program

Builds upon, nothing to replace.

Your method stays as it is, whether that is PDSA, a belt program, or both. The modules sit beside each phase and point back to the tools your teams already know.

Two tracks, one toolkit.

Lean teams get the tools mapped to Plan, Do, Study, Act. Belt programs get them mapped to DMAIC, with depth that grows with each Lean Six Sigma belt level. Same toolkit, your order.

Self-paced, then coached.

Learners work through the modules on their own schedule. Then we meet twice with the cohort to apply the tools to the project in front of them.

What it costs

Priced for a training budget, not a consulting budget. $1,500 for a cohort of up to 12 learners, including both tracks and the two coaching sessions. Additional learners are $95 each. SCORM licensing for your own LMS is quoted separately.

Some organizations fund training like this through their state Flex Program (critical access hospitals) or a quality improvement grant. We're glad to help with that conversation.

Founding partners: the first three FQHCs, CMHCs, critical access hospitals, or nonprofits addressing social determinants of health to sign up get their first cohort free, capped at 8 learners, in exchange for a short case study. Additional learners are not available at the founding rate.

Statewide and multi-organization pricing is available for Flex Programs, primary care associations, and hospital associations.

Built for rural and community teams

Small teams

The sponsor, the process owner, and the affected staff often overlap. These tools work when the same people fill several roles.

Lots going on

Regulatory, EHR, funding, and staffing changes land on the same teams at the same time. Timing and change load get their own tools here.

Trusted voices

The charge nurse, lead clinician, or program lead everyone listens to moves adoption more than a memo. Several tools are built around finding and equipping those people.

Why choose AdoptionLab.AI?

Founder Matt Humer began as a management consultant serving federal clients at Accenture. He then coached ten behavioral health nonprofits across New Hampshire on quality improvement under an Affordable Care Act grant, work rooted in Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. Most recently, he spent six years leading change management for IT and digital transformation programs at Duke Energy, a Fortune 150 company, including a rollout to more than 10,000 employees.

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt · Prosci Certified Change Practitioner · PMP · MBA, University of New Hampshire

More about Matt →

For Flex Programs, primary care associations, and hospital associations

Offer the modules to your members as a statewide cohort or a member benefit. We provide the modules, the coaching sessions, the facilitator guide, and completion reporting; you provide the network. Statewide and multi-organization pricing is available, and we're glad to work within a Flex, SHIP, or grant budget cycle.

Let's chat

When you're ready for more

The same method runs through our GenAI+ Belts™, where individuals learn process improvement, change management, and GenAI as one skill set. Some quality leaders take a belt after their team has worked through the modules. Some never need to. Both are fine.

See the GenAI+ Belts →

FAQ

Common questions

Is this an AI program?

No. This is change management for quality improvement. AI is not required and is not the focus. If your team later wants to bring AI tools into QI work, the GenAI+ Belts cover that separately.

Do we need to change how we run improvement?

No. Whether you use PDSA, a belt program, or both, the modules sit alongside each phase. Your aims, charters, measures, root cause tools, and control plans stay exactly as they are.

We use PDSA, not DMAIC. Does this still work?

Yes. Most hospitals we talk to run PDSA. The modules come in two tracks, one mapped to the PDSA cycle and one mapped to DMAIC for belt programs, and both are included.

We don't have a belt program. Is that a problem?

No. You don't need belts. If you run PDSA cycles, the PDSA track is built for you. If you do have a Lean Six Sigma belt program, the DMAIC track grows in depth with each belt level.

How are the modules delivered?

Self-paced modules on our learning platform, 25 to 40 minutes each, followed by two 45-minute coaching sessions with your cohort. SCORM files for your own LMS are available under an annual license.

Who is this for?

Quality and performance improvement leaders, nurse managers, clinic and program managers, program directors, clinical educators, PDSA team members, belt candidates, and the front desk and administrative staff who are part of the change, in hospitals, health centers, community mental health centers, and the nonprofits that address housing, food, and other social determinants of health.

What does it cost?

$1,500 for a cohort of up to 12 learners, both tracks and two coaching sessions included, and $95 for each additional learner. The first three FQHCs, CMHCs, critical access hospitals, or nonprofits addressing social determinants of health to sign up get their first cohort free, capped at 8 learners, in exchange for a short case study. Additional learners are not available at the founding rate.

Do learners get a certificate?

Yes. Each learner receives a certificate of completion with the hours listed, for your training records. Nursing contact hours are not offered yet.

What if we don't have a project underway?

Use one of our healthcare scenarios, such as bedside shift report, hand hygiene, or ED transfer communication, and apply the tools to that. Teams usually find a real project before the second coaching session.

How do we get started?

Send a note and we will set up a 30-minute call. We look at your current curriculum together and map out where the modules fit.

Bring change management into your improvement program

30 minutes, no slides, no obligation. We look at how your teams run improvement today and map out where the modules fit.

Let's chat

Or copy the address: mhumer@adoptionlab.ai

Or read the one-page overview →