AMA STEPS Forward® Innovation Academy: Learning Collaboratives

The AMA STEPS Forward® Learning Collaboratives, part of the AMA STEPS Forward Innovation Academy, will help your organization improve in important areas of practice, including workflow, teamwork and clinician well-being. Our physician leaders, drawing from dozens of evidence-based STEPS Forward resources, offer guided facilitation and expert solutions to advance your practice.

Through shared experience in a group learning environment, the collaboratives will help you and your team implement best practices, improve efficiencies and put the joy back into medicine. Each learning collaborative involves four physician-facilitated web sessions and a six-month participant commitment to executing system-level changes and measuring their effectiveness.

The learning collaboratives will convene dyads or triads of leadership representatives from multiple organizations to engage in a longitudinal shared learning experience.

During the program, participants will embark on a system-level change guided by our AMA experts and resources, and participants will be accountable for their own progress, communication and completion. By sharing successes and failures with others in the collaborative, participants can learn, iterate and improve their own efforts.

Interested in learning more about the AMA STEPS Forward® Learning Collaboratives? Bring your questions to an information session on July 10, 2024, at 2 p.m. Central to get more details about participation in either of the two collaboratives launching this October.

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• Four webinars, each one a mix of didactic and group sharing
• Designated office hours for consultations
• Assigned homework for participating groups

The first two learning collaboratives, “In-Basket Reduction” and “Reducing Regulatory Burden,” will run from October 2024 through March 2025.

Optimizing and managing the in-basket to reduce work burden

• Session 1–Oct. 2: (1.5 hours) Overview of framework to reduce message volume (eliminate, automate, delegate, collaborate)
  • Key topics: De-implementation tactics, examples of successful implementation and measurement of current state.
• Session 2–Nov. 6: (1.5 hours) Overview of key phases and needs for successful implementation of reduction tactics.
  • Key topics: Building an ROI or business plan for investment, gathering stakeholders, establishing governance and decision-making framework, and building work groups for technical, operational and clinical changes.
• Session 3–Dec. 4: (1.5 hours) Share participant plans and progress.
  • Key topics: Review keys for success, methods to overcome common barriers and how to maintain momentum.
• Session 4–March 5: (1 hour) Share success stories.
  • Key topics: In-basket reduction, implementation learnings, governance structures and strategies to continue the work.

Your organization will need to commit two or three representatives from across clinical and operational areas to participate fully in the project. Participants should be decision-makers in any of the following areas:

• Clinical leadership (chief medical officer or designee)
• Informatics (chief medical information officer or designee)
• Operations (chief operations officer or designee)
• Information technology (chief information officer or designee)
• Wellness leadership (chief wellness officer or designee)

Apply Now.* 

In-basket Reduction subject matter experts

Jane Fogg, MD, MPH, physician director of organizational transformation, American Medical Association

Dr. Fogg is a physician leader and executive with broad experience leading health care delivery, focusing on primary care, systems redesign and value-based delivery models. Prior to her current work with the AMA, she was the executive chair of internal medicine at Atrius Health, an innovative value-based health care leader in Massachusetts.

Margaret Lozovatsky, MD, FAMIA, vice president, digital health innovations, American Medical Association

Dr. Lozovatsky is a nationally recognized leader in health care informatics and has a passion for using technology to improve patient care. In addition to her role as vice president of digital health innovations at the AMA, Dr. Lozovatsky continues to care for patients as a pediatric hospitalist at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Rethinking how rules are applied to clinical practice

• Session 1–Oct. 10: (1.5 hours) Overview of framework to identify and reduce burdens and inefficiencies created by misinterpreted or over-interpreted rules and regulations. 
  • Key topics: Identify differences between regulatory requirements, organizational policies, recommendations and guidelines, risks associated with regulatory over-interpretation and examples of unnecessary regulatory burdens.
• Session 2–Nov. 14: (1.5 hours) Overview of key phases and needs for successful de-implementation initiative. 
  • Key topics: Building work groups (gathering stakeholders and resources), establishing governance and processes framework, identifying and de-implementing unnecessary regulatory burdens at the local level.
• Session 3–Dec. 12: (1.5 hours) Share participant plans, progress, successes and barriers. 
  • Key topics: Essential strategies, overcoming common barriers, inter-professional partnership and collaboration, governance and decision-making.
• Session 4–March 13: (1 hour) Share success stories. 
  • Key topics: Implementation learnings, challenges and failures, governance structures that helped or hindered progress, and future plans.

Your organization will need to commit two or three representatives from across clinical and operational areas to participate fully in the project. Participants should be decision-makers in any of the following areas:

• Clinical leadership (chief medical officer or designee)
• Information technology (chief information officer or designee)
• Compliance (chief compliance officer, chief legal officer or designee)
• Nursing (chief nursing officer or designee)

Apply Now.* 

Reducing Regulatory Burden subject matter experts

Kevin Hopkins, MD, primary care medical director, Cleveland Clinic and senior physician advisor, American Medical Association

Dr. Hopkins is a recognized leader and national speaker in the fields of caregiver burnout and ambulatory practice redesign and transformation. He serves as primary care medical director at Cleveland Clinic and holds an academic appointment with Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine as a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Hopkins teaches within the Cleveland Clinic Family Medicine Residency Program and is a faculty instructor for the Cleveland Clinic Global Leadership and Learning Institute.

Jane Fogg, MD, MPH, physician director of organizational transformation, American Medical Association

Dr. Fogg is a physician leader and executive with broad experience leading health care delivery, focusing on primary care, systems redesign and value-based delivery models. Prior to her current work with the AMA, she was the executive chair of internal medicine at Atrius Health, an innovative value-based health care leader in Massachusetts.

Questions? Please email [email protected]. 

*Applications must be made through an AMA account. If you already have an account, please log in using your existing AMA credentials. If you don’t have an AMA account, you can create one for free in just a few minutes.