Better project management means better healthcare
This week’s roundup includes some news that health IT project managers can use. For example, studies showed that an external source of EHR implementation expertise can help resource-strapped organizations deploy electronic records and that hospitals should invest more in health IT. And there are advantages to using a clinical approach to assess your progress on meaningful use measures.
But what about the projects that are already under way and keeping you up at night? David Shore, PhD, Associate Dean and Director of the Project Management in Health Care Certificate Program, Harvard University School of Public Health, feels their pain.
In IT and other fields, 80 to 90 percent of new products fail and project managers understand that, Shore told his audience recently at the New England HIMSS symposium, "Healthcare 2010: Effectively Managing Projects in Turbulent Times." In other industries, “failure is an option. Failure is an expectation.” In fact, in some cases, “you want to fail fast so that you can succeed sooner. Most models of new product development are built on this [expectation],” he said.
"But that’s not your world.”
“In medicine, the consequences of failure are dreadfully clear. Failure is always a bad thing.” Yet failure rates of new hospital-based initiatives are in the 60 to 67 percent range, he added.
When Shore asked the audience--predominantly project managers--why their projects usually fail, they cited: inadequate planning, funding or relationship management across the enterprise; lack of solid commitment by stakeholders; too many projects in play at once; resistance to change; lack of assigned responsibilities and lack of communication.
Shore told his audience that “from – to” is the essential direction for any project (or “change event”)—as in, "how do we get from a current situation to a resolution." This is where project management basics from other fields do apply: Goals must be clearly defined, leadership must be engaged (this is where CMIOs enter the picture) and stakeholders need to be on board, or at least at the table, from Day One.
Simple? Hardly. Projects mean changes, which usually alter workflows and stir up internal politics regardless of the final outcome. And the proposed time tables for EMR implementation and meaningful use compliance don't offer much wiggle room for any healthcare facility. So it's important to "start fuzzy, on the ideation side," figuring out what it is you want to do, for as long as possible, "and have no conversation about execution," said Shore.
Once the thinkers hand off to doers, "you want to have as little conversation about ideas as possible" as the execution stage begins, he said.
From the planning to the execution, CMIOs should be ready to help their project managers stay focused on "from-to." The stakes are high, but so are the potential rewards. Failure will be even less of an option for healthcare IT projects in the future, but it can be made be less of a possibility as well.
Mary Stevens, editor
mstevens@trimedmedia.com
But what about the projects that are already under way and keeping you up at night? David Shore, PhD, Associate Dean and Director of the Project Management in Health Care Certificate Program, Harvard University School of Public Health, feels their pain.
In IT and other fields, 80 to 90 percent of new products fail and project managers understand that, Shore told his audience recently at the New England HIMSS symposium, "Healthcare 2010: Effectively Managing Projects in Turbulent Times." In other industries, “failure is an option. Failure is an expectation.” In fact, in some cases, “you want to fail fast so that you can succeed sooner. Most models of new product development are built on this [expectation],” he said.
"But that’s not your world.”
“In medicine, the consequences of failure are dreadfully clear. Failure is always a bad thing.” Yet failure rates of new hospital-based initiatives are in the 60 to 67 percent range, he added.
When Shore asked the audience--predominantly project managers--why their projects usually fail, they cited: inadequate planning, funding or relationship management across the enterprise; lack of solid commitment by stakeholders; too many projects in play at once; resistance to change; lack of assigned responsibilities and lack of communication.
Shore told his audience that “from – to” is the essential direction for any project (or “change event”)—as in, "how do we get from a current situation to a resolution." This is where project management basics from other fields do apply: Goals must be clearly defined, leadership must be engaged (this is where CMIOs enter the picture) and stakeholders need to be on board, or at least at the table, from Day One.
Simple? Hardly. Projects mean changes, which usually alter workflows and stir up internal politics regardless of the final outcome. And the proposed time tables for EMR implementation and meaningful use compliance don't offer much wiggle room for any healthcare facility. So it's important to "start fuzzy, on the ideation side," figuring out what it is you want to do, for as long as possible, "and have no conversation about execution," said Shore.
Once the thinkers hand off to doers, "you want to have as little conversation about ideas as possible" as the execution stage begins, he said.
From the planning to the execution, CMIOs should be ready to help their project managers stay focused on "from-to." The stakes are high, but so are the potential rewards. Failure will be even less of an option for healthcare IT projects in the future, but it can be made be less of a possibility as well.
Mary Stevens, editor
mstevens@trimedmedia.com