![]() The Mass General Physicians Organization (MGPO) is now exploring ways to use virtual scribes so that more clinicians can benefit in a cost-efficient manner. For example, MGH implemented highly trained scribes to address clinicians’ complaint that the use of EMR requires them to spend more time focused on the computer screen rather than on the patient. For example, the Visit Navigator and Digital Mapping seek to improve patients’ experience navigating MGH’s campus through responsive, web-based, interactive digital maps that show everything from buildings to ATM locations around the hospital.Ĭlinician experience transformations aim to reduce clinicians’ administrative burden so that they can spend more time interacting with patients and less time dealing with paperwork. Patient engagement transformations aim to equip patients with the tools to be active participants in their own health. By bringing together clinicians, engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs from MGH and institutions including MIT and HBS, MGH has implemented digital transformation solutions to enhance patient engagement and improve the clinician experience. ![]() MGH’s Healthcare Transformation Lab (HTL) was launched in April 2014 “to improve the experience and value of healthcare through collaborative innovation”. Pathways to a Just Digital Future Watch this tech inequality series featuring scholars, practitioners, & activistsĮnhancing care through digital transformation It is clear that for digital transformations to be successful in the healthcare space, simplicity, flexibility, and listening to the voices of frontline users should be prioritized. That said, clinicians have identified some challenges with the system: too many bells and whistles that detract from easily understanding patient information, hard-coded responses that inhibit clinicians from providing customization in atypical situations, and gaps in understanding of clinical practices (e.g., it is easier to order 12 days of intravenous fluid than 12 hours’ worth). With Epic’s EMR, clinicians can now view vital signs with a single click. For instance, prior to the system’s integration, patients’ vital signs were only recorded in plastic binders (hard to imagine that in 2016, MGH still hadn’t digitalized vital signs!). The rollout was well-received by clinicians. MGH used a staggered implementation approach, whereby Jennings’ team simultaneously kept the home-governed system running, executed data conversions, tested the new system in cycles, and trained employees on the new system. Jennings described it as a “business transformation” rather than simply an IT implementation. The system took 3 years to build and cost $1.2 billion, twice as much the initial price of $600 million. By standardizing patient data across all Partners hospitals, patients visiting different hospitals would receive more integrated care. Keith Jennings, MGH’s CIO, described a vision of “one patient, one record, one bill and hopefully the best care to our patients across the whole continuum in a very efficient or most efficient way possible”. ![]() The aim was to have one integrated system across all Partners facilities to allow for more coordinated patient care. In 2016, MGH, along with several other Partners HealthCare hospitals, transitioned off its home-governed EMR system and implemented Epic’s EMR. Integrating care through digital transformation However, although MGH has undergone digital transformations to integrate and enhance patient care, its digital acumen is lagging behind that of other top hospitals. Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has consistently been ranked among the best hospitals in the US. On top of that, hospitals are also facing pressure to deliver digital care. Hospitals face some of the most daunting digital challenges: an unprecedented growth in unstructured data, the need to standardize IT platforms, and increases in sophisticated cyber threats.
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