What to Know about the 2022 Arch Collaborative Learning Summit
The Arch Collaborative Learning Summit 2022 will be taking place in late July. This event represents the best Collaborative opportunity that KLAS can support. We've had great feedback about all our events, whether they have been in-person or virtual. But the consistent feedback about our virtual events was that the content was helpful but that attendees wished the events could be in person. We are excited to be back in person with members of the Arch Collaborative again and to enjoy the sense of connection and collaboration that can only take place face-to-face.
We are planning to kickstart the conversation around many current issues and best practices that should be helpful to healthcare organizations and their vendors.
Collaborative Update and Trends
2021 was our busiest year ever. We had 100,000 surveys that year and crossed the 300,000-survey mark in total. The number of organizations joining also keeps growing. We have 148 current members, and more vendors are also joining the Collaborative.
The three pillars of EHR satisfaction remain the same. But one pillar in particular stands out right now, and that is having an organization-wide sense of shared ownership. Shared ownership has become more important because it is related to EHR satisfaction, burnout, and turnover, which were all problems before but have now been intensified by the pandemic. Sadly, almost 20% of all clinicians surveyed say they plan to leave healthcare in the next two years.
We’re also noticing an interesting trend with surveys. Some results from key questions have been trending down since the start of the pandemic. For example, training on the EHR has become harder, mostly because it's been virtual.
Relevant Content for Today’s Issues
We’ve prepared content to speak to these concerns and more. While we're still going to be covering the three pillars of EHR satisfaction, we’re also going to be talking about topics that we haven't talked about in depth before. For example, one session will focus on the messages and alerts that caregivers are receiving from patients and the impact that those are having on EHR satisfaction. Part of that discussion will include who's doing well.
Two panels on pressing topics are also planned, one on turnover and the other on patient-centered care. We believe that the ultimate goal of the EHR should be to improve patient care. So we will be digging into how organizations are focusing on the patient while using the EHR. If you are interested in either one of these panels, both will be streamed live to the public on KLAS’ YouTube channel. So please tune in!
Another big discussion will address infrastructure. A downward trend we've seen in the Collaborative is that the speed and reliability of the EHR is going down. But vendors are still reporting that they have near perfect uptime and no unplanned downtime. While we don't know the full story yet, there are some things to consider. We’ll be asking questions like “How is remote work affecting speed and reliability? Could home internet be the problem?” Some organizations have reported increased cyberattacks, which have slowed down their systems. Even though the systems haven't gone down, processing power is directly impacted by these virtual threats. I recently saw an interesting LinkedIn video of a clinician logging in to the EHR on their phone, tablet, and computer. The phone used facial recognition, the tablet used fingerprint ID, and the computer used a password. The phone and the tablet login processes were significantly faster. Even if the EHR login process on a computer isn't getting slower, it appears slower because other technologies get users there faster. All those factors could play a role in speed and reliability.
One Change from Past Summits
One other thing about this event will be different from past events. We've heard feedback from attendees that the content is great but that then they go back to their organizations and get bogged down with day-to-day work. They don't take what they’ve learned and apply it.
To help with this concern, we have set aside time at the summit to encourage groups that came together to get back together, discuss what they've learned, and then take an hour to put together an outline that addresses what they want to take back to the executive team and propose that they change or do. This activity won't solve the problem of getting bogged down with work after the event, but at least people will have a working plan to bring back.
Continued Value
The Arch Collaborative Learning Summit continues to be a highly valuable event for all attendees for two reasons. First, we continue to have new people join the Collaborative. In addition, many members that have joined since COVID-19 haven't been to an in-person event like this. They have yet to experience the value of in-person networking, where they can hear all sorts of different ideas and find out what works well.
Secondly, even if members have been with the Collaborative for five years, nobody has a perfect user experience at their organization. Let’s say your user training was poor in year one, and you've worked hard to overcome that, and you've seen that training has improved. Once you have solved that problem, what's the next problem?
We understand that many problems are not just about the EHR. But this event is about continuing to learn and being able to meet with other healthcare leaders who are doing well in areas that others might struggle with.
Taking the Opportunity
The name “Arch Collaborative” was intentional. It’s always impressive to me to see people working together at this summit. They’re brainstorming ideas to solve some of the some of the world's most complex problems. Technically, Arch Collaborative members are competitors, and some are even direct competitors within the same region. Yet they still work together because beyond the importance of the bottom line is the importance that the best care is provided and that people are getting better, healthier, and stronger. Anything that impedes that goal is worth fighting.
If you're interested in attending a future learning summit in person, please reach out to KLAS to become a member of the Arch Collaborative.
Photo Credit: Lumos sp, Adobe Stock