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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
IHS Office of Quality

Model for Improvement

IPC - Model for Improvement illustration

The Model for Improvement, developed by Associates in Process Improvement, is a simple, powerful tool for accelerating improvement. This tried-and-tested system is not meant to replace change models already in use, but rather to complement them in accelerating organizational improvement.

The Model for Improvement has two parts:

Part 1. Three fundamental questions that can be addressed in any order:

  1. What are we trying to accomplish?
  2. How will we know that a change is an improvement?
  3. What changes can we make that will result in improvement?

Part 2. The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle: This process is used to test and implement changes in real work settings. The PDSA cycle guides the test of a change to determine if the change is an improvement.