Organizational Learning in a Large-scale Complex Health IT Project

Abstract

Implementing large-scale complex health IT projects poses significant challenges to organizations. This paper discusses one Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT Beacon project aimed at implementing an IT-mediated care coordination model across multiple care settings in multiple communities. We posit that using participatory ergonomic methods to collect and promptly report findings to the project management team provides significant impetus for organizational learning and increases the likelihood of success of this large-scale health IT implementation project. We describe how we involve management team members in the ongoing regular evaluation of the project through short monthly Web-based surveys and semi-annual individual interviews. The goal of this process is to promote organizational learning and impact the success of this and future complex large-scale projects.