OBJECTIVES: Complex health interventions involve a process of organizational, structural, and cultural change that challenges health teams and decision-makers. During 2017 and 2020, a complex intervention was carried out for adult patients with chronic diseases. The Centro de Innovacion en Salud ANCORA UC (CISAUC) implemented a Multimorbidity patient-center care model in the public health system. This study aims to evaluate the progress in implementing the Multimorbidity patient-center care model in seven Primary Care Centers in Chile.

METHODS: We design an instrument to evaluate organizational conditions, operational conditions, installation of new roles, and clinical services from the intervention strategy of the model. The instrument was self-applied by the health care team and the coordinator of the Primary Care Center adult program guided by a consultant of the CISAUC. Each item had assigned a score where expected an overall score at a minimum of 70% of progress. It was applied twice in seven primary health centers in 2019 and 2020, where 21 health care teams and 22,642 patients were exposed to the intervention.

RESULTS: The results showed that 6 of the 7 CESFAM reached the minimum implementation threshold. The main advances were in operational conditions, and those with the least progress in implementation were the clinical services. The population size, the organization, the coordination of the health care teams, additional training, and decision-makers' support were key factors that determined the degree of progress in a complex intervention.

CONCLUSIONS: It was possible to measure the progression of the implementation of a complex intervention through an instrument that measured its critical attributes, delivering relevant information for decision-makers. The experience of evaluating the progress in complex health care innovations is crucial for those implementing complex changes to improve the performance of health systems.