John Noseworthy, MD, president and CEO of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., argues that better knowledge management is a major key to improving healthcare fragmentation.
In a recent article for Harvard Business Review, Dr. Noseworthy explains the value of the Clinic's knowledge management system, "an electronic archive of Mayo Clinic-vetted knowledge containing evidence-based protocols, order sets, alerts and care process models."
The information is available to any Mayo-affiliated physician, and can be accessed from anywhere in the world, which helps to spread best practices and leads to better informed treatment decisions.
Dr. Noseworthy believes addressing fragmentation will lead to improved quality, because a true assessment of healthcare quality "must be based on a comprehensive look at the entirety of a patient’s experience, he writes."
"To transform healthcare in America into high-quality, patient-centered care that the nation can afford, we must address fragmentation, we must address variable quality, and we need to create a sustainable healthcare financial model."