1. KP HealthConnect –
Unleashing the Power of Connectivity
in Health Care
Jeff Balesh

2. Before the Electronic Medical Record
There have been tremendous scientific advances
over the past 50 years. However…
 Paper medical records often incomplete and out of
date
 Sharing of patient information an arduous task
 Fragmented decision making regarding care
 Healthcare one industry where customers not used
to connecting with service providers

3. The Case for Connectivity in HealthCare
With an electronic medical record:
 All caregivers are connected to each other
 Patients have consistent access to their medical
record and their caregivers
 Visibility into patient status and health history
improve diagnosis and delivery of care
 Errors, redundancies, lost information, and costs
all reduced

4. Culture Change!
 Paper chart = Tangible and concrete
 EMR more comprehensive but also more time-
consuming
 Fastest typists have advantage
 Using EMR means learning a new “language”
 “Smart text” and “smart phrase” now a part of the
lexicon
 New workflows and processes mean that
EVERYONE’S job changes
 Previous efforts of this type (but much smaller)
had failed!

5. The Change Process
 Implementation in Both Outpatient and Inpatient Arenas
 Two Phases to the Inpatient Implementation
 Phase 1 focused on admitting, discharge, and transfer
functions in hospital
 Phase 2 focused on implementation of functionality for all
facets of inpatient care
 Multiple functions involved in process
 Regional Deployment Consultants
 Training
 Local Long Term Technical Support
 Local Leadership Teams
 Local Operations and End Users

6. My Role – Multidimensional Focus
 Vertical orientation of consulting services
 Worked with medical center leadership, project leaders,
champions, middle management, and end users
 Occupied many roles and worked in multiple
geographical areas
 Horizontal orientation of consulting services
 Worked across functional team framework
 Boundary spanner – connected teams, facilities,
leaders to transfer learnings, establish feedback loops,
clarify roles, etc.

7. Dividends of Managing the Change
 Post-implementation audit demonstrated
widespread user adoption of system
 Ability of teams to improve workflows
after implementation assisted by
relationships built prior to change
 Minimal turnover among health care
teams
 Capacity of organization to manage
change tremendously enhanced