Measuring an organization's ability to manage change: the change process capability questionnaire and its use for...

To describe a new survey tool for assessing medical group capability to improve care and to test the relationship between survey scores and other factors among 41 medical groups.

The 30 factors and strategies that experienced quality improvement leaders ranked as most important for successful implementation were incorporated in a questionnaire. The scores from 41 medical directors on this Change Process Capability Questionnaire (CPCQ) in relation to depression improvement were correlated with organizational factors.

On a 5-point response scale, there was high variation on nearly all CPCQ items (standard deviation, 0.59-1.63) and for overall scores for factors and strategies. The total CPCQ score also correlated highly with organizational priority for depression improvement as well as with the presence of overall systems for depression care.

This measure appears to distinguish among medical groups and to demonstrate an association with both change priorities and implemented systems for depression.