Improvement Capability Development Program (ICDP)

Primary Care 2.0
Written By hulo.dev

Project Summary

The Improvement Capability Development Program (ICDP) launched in Spring 2017 and is a collaboration between the Department of Quality for Stanford Healthcare and the Stanford School of Medicine. Through ICDP, Stanford Health Care commits to returning 1 to 4% of a department’s clinical revenue, to help develop and execute far-reaching quality improvement projects, depending on the degree of engagement and outcomes. We joined the venture in 2019, bringing implementation science and mixed-methods evaluation expertise to our collaborations.

How does the ESU support ICDP projects?

We provide two distinct types of support:

1.       Consultation

2.       In-depth, partnered evaluation

 

Consultation

Consultation meetings are held between the physician improvement leaders (PILs) and our team across all departments, and are intended to support PILs in the evaluation of their ICDP projects. During consultations we provide guidance on pragmatic yet rigorous approaches to study design, methods, priorities, and scope, to support high-quality intervention evaluation.

Photo of Stanford Hospital

In-depth Partnered Evaluation

Each year, a number of ICDP projects are selected by a senior committee to collaborate with our ESU team. Selections are made based on operational priorities, potential for impact, phase of the project and potential rigor of the study design. In close partnership with clinical partners, we develop evaluation plans that have methodologically strong study designs with the goal of producing peer-reviewed publications.

For more information on key learnings for the first two years of ICDP partnerships, please refer to this publication:

Vilendrer S, Saliba‐Gustafsson EA, Asch SM, Brown‐Johnson CG, Kling SM, Shaw JG, Winget M, Larson DB. Evaluating clinician‐led quality improvement initiatives: A system‐wide embedded research partnership at Stanford Medicine. Learning Health Systems. 2022;6(4):e10335. doi:10.1002/lrh2.10335 

 

ICDP Departments and Projects Selected for ESU Collaboration

FY2020

  • Neurology: Improving efficiency of practice in ambulatory neurology by evaluating the integration of video visits

  • Surgery: Acceptability and effectiveness of video visits for surgical consults

  • Medicine: Implementing an AI deterioration tool to improve care of seriously ill inpatients

  • Medicine: Evaluation of inpatient virtual rounding during COVID-19

FY2021

  • Dermatology: Minding the gap: digitally-enabled, team-based inpatient to outpatient care coordination and transition

  • Pathology: Reducing the number of cross-matched blood products to decrease blood wastage

  • Radiology: Improving image quality through expansion of coaching model program to all imaging modalities

FY2022

  • OB-GYN: Understanding barriers and facilitators to breastfeeding and actualization of breastfeeding goals in Latinx/Hispanic populations

  • Medicine: Implementing patient-reported outcomes for heart failure

  • Neurosurgery: Implementing fluid restriction protocol in post-operative transsphenoidal cases

FY2023

  • Emergency Medicine/Neurology collaboration: Implementing an optimized discharge process and follow-up care from the emergency department for neurology referrals

  • Anesthesiology: Implementing a mandatory EHR-based reporting system for anesthesiologists to collect safety and quality events

  • Medicine: Health equity in the context of non-English-preferring hospitalized patients and advanced care planning (ACP) / serious illness conversations

 

Funding

The collaboration between the ESU and the Improvement Capability Development Program (ICDP) is supported by Stanford Health Care.

Featured

Publications

1.           Harris SR, Rose C, Kling SM, Cohen BA, Goldberg O, Walton H, Veruttipong D, Alhadha M, Laurence SK, Ravi S, Gold CA, Shaw JG, Yang L, Brown-Johnson CG. A novel approach to care redesign collaboration between emergency and specialty departments: qualitative experience report. JMIR Formative Research. 2025;9:e22028-e22028. doi:10.2196/22028

2.           Kling SMR, Rose C, Veruttipong D, Harris SR, Safaeinili N, Brown-Johnson CG, Laurence S, Ravi S, Gardner MJ, Shaw JG. Implementation of a 3-tier priority system for emergency department patients’ follow-up in orthopaedic surgery. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2025;26(4). doi:10.5811/WESTJEM.35484

3.           Holdsworth LM, Kling SMR, Winget M, Mui HZ, Garvert DW, Veruttipong D, Seevaratnam B, Harris S, Teuteberg W. Quality of serious illness communication with hospitalized limited english proficient patients: a mixed methods study. Palliative Medicine Reports. 2025;6(1):pmr.2025.0005. doi:10.1089/pmr.2025.0005

4.           Brown-Johnson CG, Kling SMR, Saliba-Gustafsson EA, Williams ZK, Najar J, Lessios AS, Harris SR, Shaw KA, Goldthwaite LM, Shaw JG, Crowe SD. Hispanic birthing parents’ experiences with lactation support received in-hospital: a quality improvement needs assessment. Journal of Human Lactation. 2025;41(2):207-219. doi:10.1177/08903344251321777

5.           Lessios AS, Vilendrer S, Peterson A, Brown-Johnson C, Kling SM, Veruttipong D, Arteaga M, Gessner D, Gostic WJ. Mixed methods evaluation of a specialty-specific system to promote physician engagement in safety and quality reporting in a large academic health system. BMJ Open Quality. 2024;13(3):e002806. doi:10.1136/bmjoq-2024-002806

6.           Chang JJ, Amano A, Brown-Johnson C, Chu O, Gates-Bazarbay V, Wipff E, Kling SM, Alhadha M, Fernandez-Miranda JC, Vilendrer S. Patient and caregiver perspectives of fluid discharge protocols following pituitary surgery. Journal of Clinical & Translational Endocrinology. 2024;35:100336. doi:10.1016/j.jcte.2024.100336

7.           Sandhu AT, Zheng J, Kalwani NM, Kalwani NM, Zheng J, Schirmer J, Din N, Brown Johnson C, Gupta A, Lan R, Yu B. Impact of patient-reported outcome measurement in heart failure clinic on clinician health status assessment and patient experience: a substudy of the PRO-HF trial. Circulation: Heart Failure. 2023;16(2). doi:10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.122.010280

8.           Vilendrer S, Levoy E, Miller-Kuhlmann R, Amano A, Brown-Johnson C, De Borba L, Ha Luu J, Sakamuri S, Gold C. Physician perceptions of performance feedback and impact on personal well-being: a qualitative exploration of patient satisfaction feedback in neurology. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. 2023;49(3):138-148. doi:10.1016/j.jcjq.2022.12.003

9.           Vilendrer S, Saliba‐Gustafsson EA, Asch SM, Brown‐Johnson CG, Kling SM, Shaw JG, Winget M, Larson DB. Evaluating clinician‐led quality improvement initiatives: A system‐wide embedded research partnership at Stanford Medicine. Learning Health Systems. 2022;6(4):e10335. doi:10.1002/lrh2.10335

10. Patel B, Vilendrer S, Kling SMR, Brown I, Ribeira R, Eisenberg M, Sharp C. Using a real-time locating system to evaluate the impact of telemedicine in an emergency department during COVID-19: observational study. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2021;23(7):e29240. doi:10.2196/29240

11. Kling SMR, Falco-Walter JJ, Saliba-Gustafsson EA, Garvert DW, Brown-Johnson CG, Miller-Kuhlmann R, Shaw JG, Asch SM, Yang L, Gold CA, Winget M. Patient and clinician perspectives of new and return ambulatory teleneurology visits. Neurology Clinical Practice. 2021;11(6):472-483. doi:10.1212/CPJ.0000000000001065

12. Holdsworth LM, Kling SMR, Smith M, Safaeinili N, Shieh L, Vilendrer S, Garvert DW, Winget M, Asch SM, Li. Predicting and Responding to Clinical Deterioration in Hospitalized Patients by Using Artificial Intelligence: Protocol for a Mixed Methods, Stepped Wedge Study. JMIR Research Protocols. 2021;10(7):e27532. doi:10.2196/27532

13. Safaeinili N, Vilendrer S, Williamson E, Zhao Z, Brown-Johnson C, Asch SM, Shieh L. Inpatient telemedicine implementation as an infection control response to COVID-19: qualitative process evaluation study. JMIR Formative Research. 2021;5(6):e26452.doi:10.2196/26452

14. Saliba-Gustafsson EA, Miller-Kuhlmann R, Kling SMR, Garvert DW, Brown-Johnson CG, Lestoquoy AS, Verano MR, Yang L, Falco-Walter J, Shaw JG, and Asch SM. Rapid implementation of video visits in neurology during COVID-19: mixed methods evaluation. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2020;22(12):e24328. doi:10.2196/24328

15. Yang L, Brown-Johnson CG, Miller-Kuhlmann R, Kling SMR, Saliba-Gustafsson EA, Shaw JG, Gold CA, Winget M. Accelerated launch of video visits in ambulatory neurology during COVID-19: Key lessons from the Stanford experience. Neurology. 2020;95(7):305-311. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000010015

16. Vilendrer S, Patel B, Chadwick W, Hwa M, Asch S, Pageler N, Ramdeo R, Saliba-Gustafsson EA, Strong P, and Sharp C. Rapid deployment of inpatient telemedicine in response to COVID-19 across three health systems. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 2020;27(7):1102-1109. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocaa077

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