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Change Agent Blueprint

The Blueprint for Change Agents Supporting Patient's Medical Home and Integration of the Health Neighbourhood in Alberta (here-in referred to as the Blueprint) is the AMA (Alberta Medical Association) plan assembling the tools and resources supporting various groups who support primary and community specialty care transformation efforts.

The objectives of this Blueprint are to:

  • Promote the value of the change agent and their influence in facilitating and accelerating primary care transformation.
  • Provide each change agent group and their leaders with a map of resources available to support them on their journey.
  • Build a support plan for change agents to increase their effectiveness.

This Blueprint is intended for the following audiences:

  1. Change Agents
    • To better understand their role in health system transformation.
    • To be aware of the required skills and competencies for their work as change agents.
    • To be aware of the resources to support their work.
  2. Decision Makers
    • To understand the value of investment in change agents as a resource to accelerate change.
    • To plan for employing the right change agents.
    • To identify the supports available to change agents.
  3. AMA Accelerating Change Transformation Team
    • To guide the development of tools and resources for change agents.
    • To build a common understanding of change agents and the approach to support 
      them.

The Blueprint Components

  1. Organizational Commitment

    This section of the blueprint contains content that aligns the support of change agents to the ACTT mission of enabling system transformation through:

    Content: Find, curate, and build materials that help members and partners understand and implement the transformative changes.

    Capacity: Help members and partners build the skill sets they need to implement the transformative changes.

    Support: Help partners (especially) PCNs) in their organizations to do the hard work of leading and implementing change.

    Influence: Influence policy, practice, funding and services of other groups (founders, AHS, HQCA, etc.) to maximize the chances of successful transformative change.

  2. Identify & Recruit

    This section of the blueprint outlines the content and methods used by the AMA to identify and recruit various change agent groups.

    The AMA is involved in the identification and recruitment of change agents to varying degrees; for some physician champions the AMA is the recruiting organization, while for other change agents such as communicators, the AMA is not involved at all.  In other cases such as with Practice Facilitators and Panel Managers, evidence and job descriptions are available.

  3. Develop

    This section of the blueprint outlines the content and methods developed and/or used by the AMA to assist change agents in their development as it specifically relates to their functional role (e.g., clinic level physician champion, practice facilitator). This section does not cover the specific competencies of being a change agent. The development activities represent areas where it makes sense for there to be a provincial approach such as with training a panel manager or supporting a network of practice.  These activities are not meant to take the place of PCN or other organizational development activities.  All AMA offerings are optional. 

  4. Deploy

    This section of the blueprint outlines the approaches and methods to support the deployment of the change agent into the field.  As with the other steps in the blueprint, the AMA is involved in the deployment of the change agent to varying degrees.  The deployment content is intended to provide consistent tools and approaches to the work of implementing the Patient's Medical Home and Health Neighbourhood.

  5. Progress & Retain

    This section of the blueprint overlaps with development content in that the progression of the change agent often includes training and networking opportunities.  The focus in this section is on opportunities that stretch beyond the borders of the change agent's usual role, providing zonal, provincial, and national/international opportunities for learning and growth.