https://mailchi.mp/b7baaa789e52/the-weekly-gist-september-29-2023?e=d1e747d2d8

Published this week in the Harvard Business Review, this intriguing case study tells the story of how Hawaii Pacific Health, a four-hospital system based in Honolulu, worked with its providers to reduce the deluge of needless or low-value administrative tasks required each day by the system’s electronic health record (EHR) platform.

The system’s “Get Rid of Stupid Stuff” (GROSS) initiative created a simple, accessible submission form that allowed providers to flag EHR prompts and workflows ranging from inefficient (printing and scanning discharge papers patients had already signed electronically) to nonsensical (affirming adolescent patients had received proper care for their non-existent umbilical cords). Around 10 percent of suggestions submitted were for prompts that could be immediately eliminated, 15 percent caught gaps in communication and workflow, and the remaining 75 percent identified more complex opportunities for redesign. The GROSS initiative not only freed thousands of labor hours, but also boosted morale by engaging clinicians in the system’s efforts to improve operations. 

The Gist: While Hawaii Pacific Health is far from the only system to have successfully engaged its providers in the mission of reducing administrative busywork, this case study provides an example of how sometimes the simplest approaches can be the most effective. 

As systems now look to generative AI as the next frontier of bureaucratic efficiency, they will need to optimize workflow processes before automating them in order to avoid ingraining today’s inefficiencies.