The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) needed a quick way to research innovative ideas and assess their potential for advancing quality improvement. The method developed — what IHI refers to as a 90-Day R&D Project — is designed to produce innovation in a reliable and efficient manner, bringing new ideas to action.

This document describes the IHI 90-Day R&D Project process, including the use of driver diagrams to conceptualize an issue and demonstrate a pathway to achieve the desired outcome, and provides information on the completed projects to date.