| Course | HA599 Master's Capstone in Health Care Administration |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Evaluation plan |
| Length | About 860 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | Master of Health Administration (MHA) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HA599 Unit 9
Under Forty-Five Minutes at Ninety Days, or Back to the Executives: A Capstone Evaluation Plan for the Ambulance Arrival Area at a Composite Community Hospital, Pairing One Primary Measure With the Balancing Measures That Would Reveal Harm
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HA599: Master's Capstone in Health Care Administration
Unit 9 Evaluation Plan
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The hospital, measures and targets are composite and bracketed for the writer's own data; the methods cited are real.
Design
An interrupted time series: twelve months of county records before opening and twelve after, analyzed for changes in level and trend at the opening date. This design is suited to evaluating changes made at a known time when randomization is not possible (Penfold & Zhang, 2013). Weekly control charts will show the data as it arrives, so the team can see real change without waiting a year (Provost & Murray, 2011).
Measures
Primary.
1. The slowest-tenth offload time, the 90th percentile, for arrivals in the twelve staffed hours, timed from the ambulance's recorded arrival at the door until a nurse signs, using the badge reader's stamp. Target: under [45] minutes by day [90]. Owner: quality specialist. Weekly.
Secondary.
2. Median offload time. Target: under [15] minutes.
3. Diversion hours per month. Target: down at least [50] percent, the break-even from Unit 6.
4. Admission rate among patients sent elsewhere during diversion, tracked because the financial analysis found it moved the result most.
5. County ambulance unit-hours lost at the wall per month.
6. Overtime hours for triage and charge nurses.
Balancing.
7. Walk-in door-to-provider time. Limit: no increase above [five] minutes from baseline.
8. Patients leaving before being seen.
9. Boarding breaches: any admitted patient held in the alcove. Limit: zero.
10. Arrival nurse reassignments per week. Limit: two.
11. Rapid response calls or deterioration events in the alcove.
The plan counts the ways the project could hurt the department as carefully as the ways it could help.
Why These Measures
The primary measure uses the county's clock because the needs assessment showed the hospital's clock hides the delay. Diversion and admission share are tracked because they decide whether the pilot pays. Boarding breaches and reassignments are counted because the risk register named them as the top warning signs. Deterioration is tracked even though research found delayed patients did not have higher mortality (Stewart et al., 2019), because a new space creates new risks the research did not test.
Decision Points
Day [30]: safety review. Any boarding breach or serious deterioration pauses the extension of hours. Day [90]: the primary threshold. If the 90th percentile is under [45] minutes and balancing measures are within limits, continue. If not, the executive team decides whether to adjust, continue or stop. Month [12]: full evaluation, including financial results against break-even.
How the Data Will Be Checked
Each week, the quality specialist will observe [ten] handoffs in person and compare the badge time, the signature time and the moment the crew actually left. If the signature regularly precedes the real handoff by more than [five] minutes, the primary measure will be flagged as unreliable until the cause is fixed. County and hospital records will be matched monthly using the same method as the needs assessment, and the share of unmatched records will be reported, since a rising share could hide problems.
What Staff and Crews Will Be Asked
Numbers will not show everything. At day [45] and day [90], the project lead will hold short interviews with [six] emergency nurses, [four] paramedics and the charge nurses, asking what works, what does not and whether the role has been protected. Their answers will be summarized in the 90-day report beside the charts.
What Would Count as Failure
Failure is not only a missed target. The pilot fails if handoffs speed up while walk-in waits lengthen beyond the limit, if the alcove holds admitted patients, or if the role is quietly pulled so often that the arrival point exists only on paper. Any of these would be reported to the executive team even if the primary measure looked good.
Data and Owners
County electronic care reports, the badge reader, the tracking board, diversion logs and payroll. The quality specialist compiles weekly charts; the project lead reports monthly to the sponsor.
Limits
There is no comparison hospital. A regional change in ambulance volume or a new boarding policy could mimic or mask an effect. To guard against this, the plan adds two comparison series: county-wide offload times at the other two hospitals, and Tessford's own offload times overnight, outside the arrival point's hours. If offload improves equally everywhere, the arrival point is unlikely to be the cause.
Reporting
Monthly one-page reports to the sponsor and county; a 90-day report to the executive team; a 12-month report shared with the county EMS medical director. Every report shows the primary measure beside the balancing measures on the same page, so no one can read the good news without also seeing whether it came at a cost elsewhere in the department.
Conclusion
The plan decides in advance what success looks like, what harm looks like and when executives will be asked to choose.
References
Penfold, R. B., & Zhang, F. (2013). Use of interrupted time series analysis in evaluating health care quality improvements. Academic Pediatrics, 13(6), S38-S44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2013.08.002
Provost, L. P., & Murray, S. K. (2011). The health care data guide: Learning from data for improvement. Jossey-Bass.
Stewart, D., Lang, E., Wang, D., & Innes, G. (2019). Are emergency medical services offload delay patients at increased risk of adverse outcomes? CJEM, 21(4), 505-512. https://doi.org/10.1017/cem.2018.478
HA599 Unit 9 instructions, in plain terms
Unit 9 in HA 599 usually asks students to design an evaluation for their capstone solution. Instructions often require an evaluation design, primary, secondary and balancing measures with definitions, data sources, owners, targets, decision points and limitations. Fix your success threshold before the first data arrive. Choose a design suited to a change made at a known time, such as an interrupted time series. Make every measure answer a question an earlier unit raised. Include balancing measures that would reveal harm elsewhere. Plan how you will check that the primary measure is accurate. Name the design's limits and add comparison series where possible. Cite evaluation methods in APA style, and set dates when leaders will decide.
How the HA 599 Unit 9 example is put together
The sample states its design and cites guidance on interrupted time series and control charts, with a margin note on linking measures to earlier units. Eleven measures are defined in three groups, and a highlighted line notes that harms are counted as carefully as gains. A section explains why each measure is there, with a margin note. Decision points at thirty days, ninety days and twelve months follow. A section on checking data against observation carries a third note. Interviews with staff and crews, a definition of failure, data owners, limits with two comparison series, reporting and a conclusion complete the plan. Each measure has an owner and a reporting interval in the table.
Where the points sit in the HA599 Unit 9 rubric
HA 599 evaluation rubrics generally award points for an appropriate design, well-defined measures, balancing measures, data quality checks, clear ownership, decision points, honest limitations, sources and presentation. Design points go to methods suited to the change. Measure points reward definitions, sources and targets. Balancing points depend on watching for harm. Quality points require checks on the primary measure. Ownership points go to named roles. Decision points reward dates set in advance. Limitation points require naming what the design cannot rule out. Plans whose every measure traces to an earlier finding tend to earn the strongest grades. Credit also goes to qualitative checks, such as interviews with staff and crews, alongside the numbers.
HA599 Unit 9 help from the desk
Evaluation plans often lose points by choosing measures after the results arrive, by tracking only the outcome they hope to improve or by ignoring how the data could be gamed. Others claim a before-and-after design proves cause. Fix your threshold and decision dates first. Choose a design that fits the change. Define primary, secondary and balancing measures with sources and owners. Audit the primary measure against what actually happens. Add comparison series to separate your effect from wider trends. Write down what would count as failure, including harm elsewhere, and report results on one page beside the balancing measures. Keep the table to one page so the plan can travel with each report.
Get an HA599 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Share the measures you have considered, the baseline data you can reach, and whatever your earlier units found about cost and risk. Attach the Unit 9 prompt with its rubric. The sample plan, free as a first request and delivered in 24-48h, sets stop rules against your own thresholds and names an owner for every measure. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More HA599 papers and MHA samples
- HA599 Unit 1: Capstone Topic Proposal Post
- HA599 Unit 2: Capstone Project Proposal
- HA599 Unit 3: Ambulance Handoff Needs Assessment
- HA599 Unit 4: Ambulance Offload Evidence Appraisal
- HA599 Unit 5: Arrival Point Feasibility Analysis
- HA599 Unit 6: Arrival Point Financial Impact Analysis
- HA599 Unit 7: Arrival Point Implementation Timeline
- HA599 Unit 8: Arrival Point Risk Assessment
- HA599 Unit 10: Executive Presentation
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HA599 Unit 9 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HA599 Unit 9 sample paper?
The complete HA599 Unit 9 evaluation plan is here, setting the ninety-day test for a composite hospital's ambulance arrival area.
What is an interrupted time series?
A design comparing the level and trend of a measure before and after a change made at a known time.
What is the ninety-day threshold?
The slowest tenth of handoffs under 45 minutes, or the pilot returns to executives for a decision.
What balancing measures does the plan track?
Walk-in waits, patients leaving unseen, boarding breaches, nurse reassignments and deterioration events.
How long is the HA599 Unit 9 plan?
About six pages with an eleven-row measures table.