Clinical Systems Innovation:
Ambulatory Practice of the Future

A NEW APPROACH TO PATIENT-CENTRIC PRIMARY CARE MEDICINE USING CARE TEAMS, SMART TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATIVE SPACE AND PROCESSES

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With CIMIT support, the “Of-the-Futures” learning-laboratory model has spread to other settings across the continuum of care. In 2005, the MGH Ambulatory Practice of the Future initiative was launched with the mission of designing the ambulatory care practice that delivers ideal care in the ideal environment to
optimize outcomes for patients and satisfaction for clinicians. The goal is for the patient-doctor relationship to become a true partnership. In this new approach, patients will have vastly improved access to their care team through face-to-face office visits, email visits, and other types of remote or virtual visits. Innovative point-of-care technologies will be introduced into the exam room to improve the efficiency and enhance the experience for both patient and caregiver. Changes from today's paradigm of care will shift to a model of continuous, customized, iterative and well-informed care treating patients in the environments most convenient to them.

The areas for focused research for this initiative include The Care Experience, Care Team Communication, The Virtual Practice and The Physical Practice.

The Ambulatory Practice of the Future is an innovative physical space redesign leveraging process re-engineering, redefinition of team roles, remote physiologic monitoring and virtual outreach for patient-centric care at MGH. The final product will be a functioning ambulatory practice that incorporates state-of-the-art innovations.