Establishing a Change ObjectiveFebruary 2009 Follow-up Calls (Call #3)

Based on the fall 2008 CATES Training SeriesContra Costa County, San Bernardino County, & Sutter County

October 24, November 7, and November 14, 2008

Call Facilitators:

Beth Rutkowski, MPH, and Sherry Larkins, Ph.D.UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs/

Pacific Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center

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Agenda

1. This months topic: Establishing a Change Objective

2. Q-A period

3. Sharing of walk-through and baseline data gathering experiences

4. Open questions and comments about process improvement

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Change Objectives: A Management Responsibility

• Improvement is a management priority• Management shows support for change• Management sets the target for change

• Frequent mistake: Management delegates setting the target/objective to the change leader or change team

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How to Decide What to Change?

• Review results of the walk-through

• Examine existing data related to program performance and customer experience

• How does the data match up with agency mission and goals?

• What are the priorities for improving customer experience, engagement and retention

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In the beginning…Select 1 Priority

Examples include: Reduce wait time Improve attendance Increase service units Improve continuation/retention rate Better transition rates from 1 level of care

to the next Increase admissions

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Decide on a Measurable Target for Your Top Priority

Examples…• Percentage increase in attendance• Reduction in average waiting days• Number of average admissions• Percentage increase in units of service

delivered• Percentage of clients in good standing

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Setting an Objective for your Target

• Make it behavioral/measurable

• Make it a challenge but achievable

• Make sure you have a method and staff in place for measuring the change

• Plan to continue measuring throughout the change process

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Typical Objectives

A. Reduce average wait time from 1st contact to 1st face to face service from 10 days to 8 days (a 20% improvement)

B. Increase the rate of clients who participate in 4 services during the 1st 30 days from 45% to 60% (a 33% improvement)

C. Increase the retention of residential clients during the 1st week of care from 60% to 75% (a 25% increase)

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In Summary…

• Management sets improvement objective• After reviewing priorities, 1 (and only 1)

change target is selected• Baseline data and a change target are

included in the statement of the objective• Plan to gather data and review it regularly

during the change process• Make sure all involved clearly understand the

objective

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March 2009 Calls5th at 2:00pm and 13th at 11:00 am

Topic:

Creating a Quick-Start Road Map to Plan for Change

Check out the NIATx web site at www.niatx.net

Next Steps