NIATx Principles - Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Network

Sustaining Organizational Change with NIATx Tools

Published: 03/17/2025

The NIATx model is widely recognized for driving rapid-cycle improvements using the essential NIATx tools and steps for change. However, staff turnover, shifting priorities, and limited resources can all contribute to backsliding into old habits. How can organizations make sure that improvements become standard operating procedure? In this post, we’ll explore how embedding the NIATx […]

Check Out the NIATx 101: Simple Steps for Creating High-Impact Change [Flipbook]

Published: 02/05/2025

This flipbook features a compilation of published blog posts from the ATTC/NIATx Service Improvement Blog that highlights content focused on the use of NIATx principles, tools, and processes to create impactful and lasting organizational change. It also includes information on implementing the NIATx change model in new and diverse settings. By compiling the content according to these […]

The Ripple Effect: How Small Changes Make a Big Impact - A Look Inside the Milwaukee Comprehensive Care Initiative (MC3) and NIATx Learning Collaborative

Published: 11/11/2024

The NIATx model was designed to be easily adopted and sustained by organizations and systems without the need for ongoing consultation or complicated processes. It's built to empower teams to identify and make small changes that lead to big improvements. Milwaukee County's behavioral health system first got involved with NIATx in 2011. Since then, NIATx […]

Quiz: How Well Do You Know NIATx?

Published: 07/16/2024

Whether you're a seasoned NIATx expert or just beginning your NIATx journey, we have a challenge for you. Take this quick quiz to find out just how well you know this evidence-based process improvement approach! Question 1:What does NIATx stand for? A) The Network for Improvement and Technical Excellence B) The Network for the […]

A NIATx Virtual Walk Through to Promote Integrated Care for Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Conditions

Published: 06/05/2024

Information provided in this post comes from technical assistance provided by the Great Lakes ATTC in Manitowoc County, WI. Providers throughout the Great Lakes region and across the county have been making steady gains toward integrated mental health and substance use care. Providers have come to understand that co-occurring conditions (COD) are more the norm […]

Flowcharting Your Breakfast: How to Find the Right Altitude

Published: 05/06/2024

The NIATx change model focuses on a sequence of four primary tools: After a walk-through, teams sometimes struggle to create a flowchart to map out the process they just examined. Whether you use a big sheet of paper and a marker, sticky notes on a dry-erase board, or any number of softwares, here are a […]

Three Ways to Sustain Change with NIATx

Published: 03/04/2024

The NIATx model is designed to help teams identify and implement a process improvement. While adopting a change is a significant accomplishment, the true test lies in maintaining that change and its positive outcomes over the long term: sustaining the change. Sustainability refers to the ability to stick with the new way of doing things and […]

NIATx in New Places: Bringing the NIATx Change Leader Academy to HealtheKnowledge

Published: 06/13/2023

By Maureen Fitzgerald, communications manager, Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC, and Scott Gatzke, director of dissemination, Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, and PTTC NIATx began as a demonstration project in which 39 substance use treatment organizations tested process improvement tools borrowed from industry and manufacturing to improve treatment access and retention. The success of the NIATx […]

ATTC’s Pearls of Wisdom: The Legacy and Future of the NIATx Model and the Great Lakes ATTC

Published: 04/06/2023

By Todd Molfenter, PhD, director of Great Lakes ATTC, MHTTC, & PTTC How can I successfully make “organizational change?” This is the fundamental question that started the NIATx movement. Simply stated, NIATx is a set of tools and techniques used to make organizational change: whether it be improving the admissions process, implementing an evidence-based clinical […]

Embracing Change: Leading Through Change - Essential Skills for Managers in Behavioral Health Settings

Published: 08/18/2022

By Beth Rutkowski, MPH, and Michael Shafer, Ph.D. Behavioral health and recovery support professionals operate within interdisciplinary, multi-professional teams of providers. Behavioral health professionals frequently find themselves serving as site managers, team leaders, shift leads, clinical supervisors, and other middle-management positions. In these positions, behavioral health professionals are often called upon to perform tasks and […]

NIATx Principle #2: Fix Key Problems (And Help the CEO Sleep at Night)

Published: 08/02/2019

Mat Roosa, LCSW-R NIATx Coach The NIATx model is driven by five principles that research has shown to be the hallmarks of successful improvement projects. These five principles emerged from an analysis of decades’ worth of research that gathered data from 640 organizations in 13 industries, examining 80 factors on why certain projects fail while […]

The 5 NIATx Principles: Principle #4 — Get ideas from outside the organization or field

Published: 06/17/2019

Mat Roosa, LCSW-R NIATx Coach When a substance use disorder clinic is struggling to engage and retain clients, we might understand why they would reach out to a more successful clinic for assistance. But what about asking a hotel or an amusement park? Many industries, especially in the health and human service sector, have remained […]

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