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UVA Health is adopting its first document management system, which is welcome news for all the team members who need to access and consult policies and clinical care documents in the course of doing their job. 

“Up until now, we have not taken a systematic approach to organizing our policies and operational documents — they are being housed in numerous places on KnowledgeLink and other online locations. This lack of centralization often causes people to spend more time than anticipated tracking down the information they need,” explains Denise Barth, Director of Accreditation and Regulatory Standards, whose team is leading the migration to a new, cloud-based system, PolicyTech.

In addition to moving documents to the new system, a big part of the job will be to declutter existing online files, both before and after the first phase of the PolicyTech migration goes live in mid-October. In a recent interview, Barth explained the coming changes and the key benefits they offer. 

Why are we making this change?

There are six key reasons for migrating or PolicyTech:

• To make it is easier for end users/frontline team members to find and access needed clinical and operation resources
• To provide up-to-date tools to support team members who are responsible for writing, approving, and maintaining documents
• To centralize storage — put all of our clinical and operational guidance documents in one place.
• To improve document searchability 
• To automate document development, cyclical reviews, and approvals to keep documents current
• To support regulatory compliance needs

What are the expected benefits?

The biggest benefits of this change will be experienced by four groups:

• End users | Will have improved searchability, accessing reliable, up-to-date clinical practice resources
• Document writers | Will no longer have to create manual processes for creating and maintaining documents by allowing the system to track deadlines and review and approval steps
• Leaders | Will have added assurance that clinical and operational documents are reliable and up to date.
• Regulatory compliance office | Can cite our new system as an example of the rigor with which we provide evidence-based current guidance to clinicians and manage version control and audit trail of revisions

What information will transition to the PolicyTech system?

It will take time to move all relevant operational and clinical documents. Phase 1 of this initiative will include transitioning items from KnowledgeLink. Subsequent phases will address documents stored on other platforms.  

Phase 1 document migration will include:

• Health System and Medical Center Policies.
• Organizational and departmental clinical guidance documents, including clinical practice guidelines, standard operating procedures, and protocol orders that are currently being stored on KnowledgeLink.  
• Standard Work documents that are being evaluated for relevancy to current quality-improvement work and current practice.

The next phases of document migration will include: 

• Many clinical guidance documents that are stored on local shared drives, Google drives, SharePoint sites, and many other places.  
• Administrative and/or operational support documents will also be transitioned in subsequent phases.

What information will not be migrated to PolicyTech, and what will happen to it?

Some information will not be moved and can continue to be managed and stored locally, including: patient education materials, committee agendas and minutes, on-call and staffing schedules, and staff educational and training materials.

What will the decluttering process look like?

Starting on Aug 26, two types of documents — clinical and operational guidance documents dated 2015 and earlier and those identified by leaders as no longer needed — will be unpublished from KnowledgeLink. Unpublished documents will no longer be visible or active for team members. 

What is the overall timeline for this project?

The active migration of initial documents into PolicyTech will take 4 to 6 weeks, ending with launch of the system in mid-October. Once migration begins, no new clinical documents should be uploaded to KnowledgeLink. More information about the pause in uploading will be shared in the coming weeks.

What steps are completed or in progress?

Clinical leaders have completed a review of clinical documents currently stored on KnowledgeLink. Documents have been identified for migration to PolicyTech or for archiving/unpublishing. System design is now underway.

What other preparatory steps are planned?

We are getting ready to offer: training for all users; role-specific training for document writers, reviewers and approvers. Other upcoming steps include system testing and planning for go-live.  

What work will be ongoing after the migration to PolicyTech is completed?

Ongoing review of clinical practice guidance documents to ensure they are designed to add value, are relevant at the point of use, and meet regulatory standards.  

What actions do team members need to take?

Be on the lookout for further communication about training opportunities and system demonstrations.

How will team members log onto PolicyTech?

Users will log into Policy Tech as they do other UVA Health supported platforms such as Kronos, WorkDay, and Be Safe Events.

Team members who have questions about the PolicyTech project should contact Kristine Hall or Kerri Murphy.