Kevin Nolan

Kevin M. Nolan is a statistician, author, and consultant. Before joining Associates in Process Improvement (API), he worked as a mechanical engineer for the Department of the Navy. With API since 1986, Kevin has focused on developing methods and assisting organizations to accelerate their rate of improvement including the spread of new ideas. He has worked with manufacturing, service, and health care organizations, both in the public and private sector..

As a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Kevin has served on the faculty of numerous IHI initiatives such as improving care at the end of life, improving patient flow across acute care settings, and improving care in emergency departments. He has supported IHI’s improvement work in communities including the initiative to reduce poverty in NE Wisconsin. He has also worked for many years on the development of the Triple Aim (simultaneous improvement of health, the experience of care, and per capita cost for a population) and its application to individuals with complex needs. He co-authored the paper Pursuing the Triple Aim: The First Seven Year published in The Milbank Quarterly in 2015. Kevin was a key contributor to the development of IHI's Framework for Spread. This framework, based on theory and experience, provides guidance to organizations which have as an aim more wide spread adoption of local improvements. The framework has been used successfully in many large spread projects both within and outside of health care.

Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Catholic University of America, a Master's degree in Measurement from the University of Maryland, and a Master's degree in Statistics, also from the University of Maryland. He is a co-author of the second edition of the book The Improvement Guide: A Practical Approach to Improving Organizational Performance published by Jossey-Bass in 2009 and co-editor of the book Spreading Improvement Across Your Healthcare Organization published by Joint Commission Resources in 2007.

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