Certificate of Added Qualification in Healthcare Improvement Program

Overview

LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

Program Offerings & Schedules

FALL 2026 - APPLICATIONS OPEN:

Required Courses & Schedules:

View Course Details & Schedules »

View Course Details & Schedules »

• BCM Employees: The applicant must be a current faculty member, fellow/advanced trainee, or staff member at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) or a BCM-affiliated institution, unless prior arrangements have been made with the I-QIPS Leadership Team before submitting an application.
• Non-BCM Employees: Eligibility also extends to healthcare professionals from non-BCM-affiliated institutions in the Texas Medical Center and the University of Houston who are invited as individuals, as members of an invited department, or as part of an invited institution (space-permitting, subject to change).

• QI Project: The applicant must describe a concrete, leadership-approved improvement project on their program application. It should be one that can be developed, implemented, and completed over the duration of the CAQHI Program, spanning the two required courses. Enrolled learners will work on their projects during the courses, advancing them further with each course session by applying the concepts and knowledge gained.
  The project may be an initiative that the applicant currently is pursuing or one they will begin concurrently with the start of the CAQHI Program (Course 1). To meet the CAQHI Capstone submission requirements and deadline, the project must be in an area where the applicant has substantial control and can reasonably begin at the start of Course 1 and complete by the end of Course 2.
  Note: Applicants who do not yet have a suitable improvement project are encouraged to apply only after an appropriate project has been identified and approved by leadership.
• Letter of Support Form: The applicant's clinical champion — defined as someone in the clinical area targeted for improvement through the applicant's selected QI project (i.e., where the project will be implemented) — must complete and submit a brief, online Letter of Support (LOS) Form, which serves in place of a traditional letter of support.
  The LOS Form confirms that the applicant has the full support of their supervisor, leadership, and/or clinical champion to participate in the CAQHI Program, if selected. Specifically, it verifies that the support includes: access to necessary resources for the success of the approved QI Project; approval for full participation in the full CAQHI Program, including both courses; and allocation of sufficient time to attend all course sessions, complete assignments, advance the improvement project throughout the program, and successfully meet Capstone submission deadline and requirements.
  Applicant Responsibility: When completing the program application, the applicant will be asked to provide the name of the clinical champion submitting their LOS Form. However, it is the applicant's responsibility to provide the LOS Form link to their clinical champion and ensure the form is submitted by the application deadline.
  Even if submitted on time, an application will not be considered unless the corresponding LOS Form is also received by the I-QIPS by the application deadline. Incomplete applications may not be reviewed.

By the end of the CAQHI Program, learners should be able to address the following items, as organized by core competency areas:

1. Interprofessional Collaboration and Teamwork
• Identify relevant team members to improve a stated healthcare problem
• Demonstrate an understanding of one’s own role and those of other disciplines to advance the health of populations within the context of a healthcare improvement project


2. Organization and System Leadership
• Use theories to explain and guide the interactions within and between health system components
• Communicate the value of change to diverse stakeholders and consumers of healthcare improvement information
• Understand how strategic leaders adapt healthcare organizations to meet the demands of organizational environments


3. Improvement and Implementation Science
• Identify and justify scientific evidence that is ready for translation into practice
• Use improvement and implementation to promote sustainable healthcare practice change
• Use health care information systems to support healthcare improvement, innovation, and implementation
• Evaluate and analyze implementation strategies


4. Methodological Skills and Analytic Techniques for Improvement and Implementation
• Demonstrate ability to conceptually and operationally define measures (process, outcome, and balancing) that are aligned with aims and change ideas (interventions/exposures)
• Demonstrate ability to develop, implement, and evaluate data collection plans
• Utilize appropriate methods to analyze data

Criteria for Completion

In order to remain enrolled in the CAQHI Program, learners must successfully complete each of the steps described below; each step serves as a prerequisite and Program requirement for its subsequent step.

• STEP 1: Complete Course 1: QI Jump Start* - This intermediate-level course builds upon foundational skills, as well as those concepts acquired from each course session. It includes a series of required (brief) course assessments, administered before the start of the course, immediately after the final session, and again about three months thereafter, for learners to provide updates regarding the progress of their projects, as related to the training received from the course.

The topics covered in the course include, but are not limited to, the following: systems/design thinking and redesign, models for healthcare improvement, basic measures and tools for conducting quality improvement (QI), adult learning theory and mentoring, and QI scholarship.

The successful completion of the QI Jump Start course is based on the stated Criteria for Completion described on the QI Jump Start Course Overview page, where the following course information also is provided: Goal and Target, Audience, Learning Objectives, Content, Delivery, Accreditation and Credit Designation, Evaluation.

• STEP 2: Complete Course 2: Leading Healthcare Improvement (LHI)* - This advanced-level leadership training course is designed to develop leaders of interprofessional improvement teams within their clinical settings. Each course session is designed to build upon the content, activities, and assignments from its previous sessions, and a series of required (brief) course assessments is administered before the start of the course, immediately after the final session, and about three months thereafter, for learners to provide updates regarding the progress of their projects, as related to the training received from the course.

The topics covered in the course include, but are not limited to, the following: transformational goals, effective leadership, identifying internal and external stakeholders essential to change projects, cultural barriers and facilitators of organizational change.

The successful completion of the LHI course is based on the stated Criteria for Completion described on the LHI Course Overview page, where the following course information also is provided: Goal and Target, Audience, Learning Objectives, Content, Delivery, Accreditation and Credit Designation, Evaluation.

• STEP 3: Complete and Submit Capstone Project - As the final requirement of the CAQHI Program, each enrolled learner is responsible for completing and submitting one (1) approved healthcare improvement capstone project. The capstone project must be submitted online via the Capstone Submission Form designated for the respective CAQHI Program offering/group (e.g., Fall 2021, Group: CAQHI-1; Fall 2022, Group: CAQHI-2).

  The successful completion of the capstone project is based on the continuity of the project (in its development and implementation) across the two required courses, as well as per the stated requirements and criteria described in the respective Capstone Submission Instructions provided for the respective CAQHI Program offering/group, which include the following information:

  • Capstone Submission Form
  • Project Requirement
  • Submission Requirement
  • Evaluation Criteria

  For the capstone submission deadline and instructions for a given CAQHI Program offering/group, learners should refer to the above Program Offerings list and select the respective offering in which they are enrolled.

*Both of the required training courses (see Steps 1 - 2 above) must be taken through the I-QIPS in order to qualify for the Certificate of Added Qualification in Healthcare Improvement.