University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Client Story How a leading health system gained organizational buy-in for the adoption and continued use of evidence-based health education
The Challenge University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), a large health system, needed to standardize patient education resources across their entire health system. After years of growth and expansion, their patient education had become inconsistent and fragmented inside multiple EMR systems Epic for outpatient, Cerner for inpatient, and several other EMRs. UPMC faced these two main challenges: + The integration of patient education within their different EMR systems was incongruent, requiring extra technical resources. + UPMC clinicians and care providers were using education materials from different sources, so patients were receiving inconsistent information and instructions. To achieve their goal of system-wide standardization, UPMC needed a leading education, technology, and services provider who could consult on strategy, provide optimization recommendations, and offer best practices. They realized that tailored patient education is what leads to meaningful patient experiences and outcomes. The UPMC senior administration gave their full support to finding a solution. Healthwise Client Story: Health System 2
Our Solution UPMC selected Healthwise for Point of Care to provide high-quality, consistent patient education across its Epic and Cerner systems. Working with the Healthwise professional services team helped ensure that UPMC met their goals, positively managed change within the organization, and experienced implementation success. Key Success Factors 1. Governance Team Leveraging their patient education governance team to gain support and create champions across the health system was instrumental for UPMC. This team took on the strategic role and was made up of UPMC medical and other clinical experts. Their vision was endorsed by the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Quality Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, and Health Plan leadership. The team met monthly to manage the project and mitigate risks. They drafted the UPMC patient education vision statement, researched national best practices for patient education and implementation, and established a base of advocacy for the project. Physician champions selected from each department within the organization were crucial. To gain support for the adoption of the Healthwise solution, these champions advocated for the project with the other physicians in their departments. Also, the team was chaired by an engaged leader who won the essential support of high-level administrators. The passion and dedication of both the team leader and senior administrators propelled the implementation forward. Healthwise Client Story: Health System 3
2. Organizational Buy-in Before implementing Healthwise patient education across UPMC, Healthwise helped facilitate a 2-day summit for key stakeholders who were identified throughout the health system. The summit was designed to ensure that participants had an opportunity to: + Explore the Point of Care solution. + Understand how their systems and workflows would change. + Learn how consistent patient education improves experiences and outcomes. During the summit, the UPMC patient education vision statement was confirmed: Align patient education needs and organizational goals in an enterprise-wide patient education resource that is consistent across all patient points of care, which enhances the overall patient and caregiver experience. Just as important, it helped them create guiding principles, determine project scope, and identify measures of success. 3. Patient Education Committee UPMC utilized their existing patient education committee to plan the implementation process and address barriers. This committee is made up of representatives from hospitals in the health system, from the health plan, and from various other care settings. They meet monthly to set goals and find solutions around: + Establishing a process for evaluating content questions, requests, and additions to Healthwise education. + Using technology to better educate patients throughout the continuum of care (for example, inpatient, physician offices, home care, and health plan). + Improving workflows to ensure clinicians have access to the full range of Healthwise materials, including patient instructions in the erecord, workbooks for chronic conditions, the Health Library website, and care instruction sheets for home care. Healthwise Client Story: Health System 4
Benefits With Healthwise for Point of Care, UPMC achieved standardized patient education across their health system. Having the Healthwise professional services team s support to manage the project plan, help UPMC gain internal alignment, and provide significant on-site training enabled UPMC to have a successful implementation with several benefits: + Consistency. The primary benefit for UPMC is consistent patient education that is now available within their Epic and Cerner EMR systems and in their health plan platforms. Physicians, care providers, patients, and members of the health plan can all easily access the same medically accurate and informative health education materials. + Patient experience. Implementing a single, comprehensive patient education solution throughout UPMC has enhanced the patient experience. As a result, the organization is moving toward improved outcomes across their hospitals and health plan. + Physician champions. By selecting physician champions throughout their departments, UPMC established a support base and a resource for other physicians to go to, greatly improving overall physician use of health education. + Discovery. This implementation led to the improvement of best practices and to discoveries that could be applied beyond patient education. For example, addressing issues discovered within the patient education workflow helped UPMC solve workflow problems in other areas. Healthwise has been a great partner to help us meet our patient education improvement goals. They eagerly incorporate our feedback to ensure their educational products empower our patients to better manage their own health. -Connie Feiler, RN, MSN Senior Manager, Patient Education UPMC Healthwise Client Story: Health System 5
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