Determining Needs and Setting Priorities for Systems Change

Tool: Assessment Survey

Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (ACIC) Survey
Developed by the MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation

Health organizations require practical assessment tools to guide quality improvement efforts and evaluate changes in chronic illness care. This Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (ACIC) survey, developed by the MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation, helps medical teams identify areas for improvement in their care for chronic illness, and evaluate the level and nature of improvements made in their system.

The survey is divided into six sections corresponding to the six elements of care in the Chronic Care Model developed by ICIC (click here for more information on the Chronic Care Model).

1. Organization of the health care delivery system
2. Community linkages
3. Patient self-management support
4. Decision support
5. Delivery system design
6. Clinical information systems.
7. Respondents, usually practice teams and health plans, are asked to rate the degree to which each component is being implemented within their system, using a scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 11 (fully).

To aid in selecting a value, the ACIC provides general descriptions for limited, basic, good, and excellent support of chronic illness care in connection with that component. One of the advantages of the ACIC is that the most advanced category (the highest possible score for each item) describes optimal practice, educating respondents about where they should be targeting their practice.

-Return to the Top-
-Return Home-

Continue to Needs: Best Practice Model