On average it takes seventeen years for medical research findings to make their way into standard clinical practice. Healthcare organizations are being challenged to find much faster ways to implement evidence-based best practices into everyday care delivery. Successful implementation of a robust content system is critical for hospitals to drive clinical integration more quickly and efficiently across the organization to achieve improved, sustainable outcomes. There are 5 major steps including:. 1. Performing key process analysis; 2. Understanding the population; 3. Understanding best practices and current state; 4. Identifying key metrics; and 5. Defining specific goals

1. How to Develop a Robust
Clinical Content System

2. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Timeline
Seventeen years.
That’s how long it takes, on
average, for medical research
findings to make it into
standard clinical practice.
Developing a strong content
system improves the ability to
quickly integrate new evidenced-
based best practices into
everyday care delivery.

3. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Key Components of the Content System
Establishing a content system
means developing best-practice
care processes the organization
that will drive care improvement.
At its most basic, the content
system introduces evidence-
based knowledge assets into
everyday care delivery in a
systematic way.
The following outlines important
steps for developing a robust
content system.

4. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Key Components of the Content System
1. Performing key process analysis
The key process analysis
examines clinical processes in
the organization to determine
where the most variation in the
cost of delivering care exists.
This structured, data-driven
examination reveals which care
processes offer the greatest
opportunities for improvement.

5. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Key Components of the Content System
2. Understanding the population
Once the care process is
determined, the organization
needs to define precise patient
registries (the population affected
by the targeted care process).
For example, if the focus area
is heart failure, an exact
definition of which group of
heart failure patients will be
analyzed is needed.

6. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Key Components of the Content System
3. Understanding best practices and current state
Next, the organization needs to
define the best practices that
will deliver improved outcomes.
Consideration should be given
to reviewing any order sets,
checklists, and protocols
available.
This step also involves care
process mapping—working
with clinicians and other
stakeholders to map out the
entire care process.

7. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Key Components of the Content System
4. Identifying key metrics
An effective content system
identifies upfront the key
metrics that data analysts will
need to track improvement.
Once identified, decisions can
be made on the best way to
measure methods and
outcomes.

8. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Key Components of the Content System
5. Defining specific goals
Now the focus is on creating a
specific goal(s) to address the
identified problem.
Hypothetical research indicates
that implementing ten key best
practices impact heart failure
readmissions.
A smart approach is to target the
intervention strategies around very
specific, narrow aim statements.

9. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Key Components of the Content System
Once the content system in place,
implementing improvements in a
systematic way using deployment
and analytics systems can begin.
The deployment system facilitates
how an organization shares and
diffuses improvements throughout
the entire enterprise.
The analytics system allows the
organization to measure and
collect data needed to drive
improvement.

10. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Tips for Creating an Effective Content System
Choose an analytics vendor
with robust content starter sets.
The best vendors have done
much of the work already by
developing starter content sets.
They’ve already mapped out the
care processes and identified best
practices that can be applied.
And they’ve already developed
possible aim statements and
associated metrics to guide the
implementation.

11. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Tips for Creating an Effective Content System
Begin with a starter set—but
refine definitions and processes
to fit the organization.
Physicians, nurses, operations
leaders, finance, etc. collaborate to
refine starter sets to match their
organization’s needs.
When your team modifies the
content it enables better adaptation
and fosters engagement and buy-
in crucial to process improvement.

12. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Tips for Creating an Effective Content System
Don’t worry about having
everything perfect up front.
Instead, expect an iterative
approach.
Put the content system in place
as best as possible.
Over time the analytics system
will deliver valuable metrics and
insight that will help the team
tweak and refine the content.

13. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Conclusion
A content system builds a foundation
of consistent processes to guide
improvement initiatives.
This methodology is an important
and effective tool for achieving
clinical integration and improved
outcomes across the organization.

14. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
More about this topic
The Three Systems Critical to Healthcare Analytics Success
Eric Just, Vice President, Client Engagement
Knowledge Management in Healthcare: It’s More Important Than You Realize
Dr. John Haughom, Senior Advisor
The Content System: Making the Best Medical Knowledge Standard Practice
Dr. John Haughom, Senior Advisor
Three Essential Systems for Effective Population Health Management
Jared Crapo, Vice President
The Best Approach to Healthcare Analytics
Tom Burton, Senior Vice President, Product Development
Link to original article for a more in-depth discussion.
How to Develop a Robust Clinical Content System

15. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
For more information:

16. © 2014 Health Catalyst
www.healthcatalyst.com
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Other Clinical Quality Improvement Resources
Click to read additional information at www.healthcatalyst.com
Holly Rimmasch brings over 28 years of experience in bedside care, as well as
clinical and operational healthcare management to Health Catalyst. She has spent
the last 17 years dedicated to improving clinical care including implementation of
operational best practices. Prior to joining Health Catalyst, Ms. Rimmasch was an
Assistant Vice President at Intermountain Healthcare responsible for Clinical
Services (Pharmacy, Laboratory, Respiratory, Case Management, Rehabilitation
Services, Food and Nutrition, Patient and Provider Publications, Clinical Operations
for Imaging, Patient Flow, Pain Services, Continuum of Care) and was integral in promoting
integration of Clinical Operations across hospitals, ambulatory settings and managed care plans.
Prior to her role in Clinical Services, she served as the Clinical Operations Director and Vice-Chair
of Intermountain's Cardiovascular and Intensive Medicine Clinical Programs. She also was the co-
founder of and Principal in HMS, Inc., a healthcare consulting firm focusing on assessing,
developing strategies and implementing best practices for populations across the continuum of care
(physician offices, managed care, hospitals, and long-term care). Ms. Rimmasch holds a Master of
Science in Adult Physiology from the University of Utah and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from
Brigham Young University.