Vision & Guiding Principles

CareConnect Vision

CareConnect supports UCLA's commitment to care by connecting people with an integrated source of knowledge.

CareConnect Guiding Principles

The following principles were created by the Executive Oversight Board to guide the CareConnect program. They serve as a foundation for what we do and how we operate.

• Decisions will be made based upon the best interests of the patients.
• We will focus on the best approach for the overall UCLA organization, while considering and balancing the needs of various constituencies.
• Use of CareConnect will be mandatory for all providers.
• We will commit to an implementation process that prioritizes implementation speed and post-implementation optimization; in order to save time and money, to the extent feasible, we will implement the vendor's "Model System" workflows and configurations for mainline processes.
• CareConnect activities will be jointly owned and driven by clinical and operational leadership with IT providing the necessary support; major changes that impact time, scope and resources will be reviewed/approved through the EHR governance structure.
• Across Health Sciences we will prioritize the CareConnect effort over all other IT investments except those needed to support patient safety and regulatory requirements; focus and resources will be shifted from support and enhancement of current systems to the design and build of the EHR.
• Strong preference will be given to the integrated solution provided by the enterprise EHR vendor; alternative vendor solutions must be justified and approved through a formal process; whenever possible, departmental and niche systems will be replaced by CareConnect to preserve the integrity of the longitudinal patient record.
• We will make every effort to prioritize those activities that maximize our opportunity to capture ARRA incentive payments.
• Workflow process standardization to drive consistent outcomes will prioritize enterprise-wide objectives versus individual, unit or department-specific objectives.
• To the extent possible, evidence-based content is to be used uniformly across the continuum of care in every patient care setting; wherever feasible we will leverage the Epic "Model System" clinical content.
• Underlying prerequisites, such as network infrastructure and IT support structure/processes, will be addressed in advance of the CareConnect implementation to minimize any risk to the user experience.