While the COVID-19 pandemic has been credited as an accelerant to virtual care and digital health adoption, the situation has also invoked new decision-making processes within the health IT realm.
At Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, CIO Cris Ross has led numerous health IT initiatives in response to the pandemic. In a Feb. 21 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Ross shared how the health system reinvented its idea exploration process for IT projects.
Four insights:
1. Mayo Clinic eliminated its "approval to think about an idea" step from its process for exploring new ideas, Mr. Ross said.
2. This extra step, he explained, required proponents to outline their ideas with enough details to justify getting resources to explore it. However, some good ideas don't always present well on first look, or a proponent might not be able to articulate the case adequately because the ideas haven't been fully formed, he said.
3. By removing this outlining step, Mr. Ross said Mayo streamlined decision-making. "We're basically removing a layer of required documentation before people can begin to look at an idea, allowing them to move ahead, after discussions with management about their ideas."
4. Mr. Ross said the goal of the new process is to get ideas workshopped more quickly.