Abstract
The HealthPathways Community, a global network of local health systems, is collaborating to get evidence and policy into practice at scale and improve the quality and experience of care for patients and clinicians. Based on a shared vision and values, the HealthPathways Community has developed a scalable approach to local care pathway development, enabling learning health systems. HealthPathways integrates best practice clinical guidance with information about accessing local services. The platform and methodology enables clinicians to rapidly adapt shared pathways to their local environment. Each pathway is developed collaboratively by local clinicians, using a facilitated workgroup model to build relationships and reach agreement about local care processes. HealthPathways enables health systems to get evidence and policy into practice, reduce unwarranted variation in care, and support clinicians to quickly make the right decisions together with their patients. HealthPathways optimises patient flows and makes best use of the health workforce by supporting clinicians to practice at the top of their scope. The HealthPathways Community has grown to include over 60 local health systems across New Zealand, Australia, and the UK, collectively responsible for the care of 32 million people. Clinicians viewed HealthPathways guidance over 5 million times in the last 2 months. During the COVID-9 pandemic HealthPathways was used to rapidly get evidence and policy into practice across New Zealand and Australia, with pathway updates occurring daily. The community is collating user surveys, clinical audits, and cost-benefit analyses demonstrating the impact of HealthPathways. Recently the community has been developing methodologies for addressing equity issues in pathways. We have a ranges of examples from around the community of improved quality and efficiency of care including reduction in low value diagnostics, improved prioritisation of outpatient consultations, and reduced acute demand. These have been translated into cost-savings of $0 per $ invested in pathways. Key lessons from the development of the HealthPathways Community include the importance of shared vision and values, partnership and collaboration, effective local stakeholder engagement, agile development processes, and robust clinical governance. We aim to continue to grow the HealthPathways Community, strengthening the network to benefit all members. We are exploring the application of AI large language models to both the development and user experience of pathways.