AHA Session Highlights System-Level Progress of the West Health Accelerator

The West Health Accelerator at Mass General Brigham took center stage at a recent American Hospital Association (AHA) meeting: From Vision to Execution: How West Health & Mass General Brigham Are Accelerating Tech-Enabled Care at Scale. During the meeting, leaders from Mass General Brigham and West Health shared early lessons from the West Health Accelerator, an initiative designed to transform inpatient care for older adults.

Investing in Operational Innovation

Moderated by AHA Chief Physician Executive Chris DiRienzo, MD, the session focused on how the Accelerator is working towards achieving sustainable, systemwide change that can be scaled to other institutions. Zia Agha, MD, chief medical officer of the West Health Institute, kicked off the discussion by framing the Accelerator as a response to the persistent focus in U.S. healthcare on investing in innovations like new devices, new drugs, and new technologies rather than on care delivery. He explained that the Accelerator’s model focuses on operational innovation, concentrating resources on integrating proven care practices into technology and workflows that can reliably reach patients.

Zara Cooper, MD, MPH, co-director of the Accelerator, described how the work aligns with Mass General Brigham’s priorities around quality, safety and patient experience across their diverse network of hospitals. She noted that older adults account for a disproportionate share of adverse outcomes, yet performance metrics are often not stratified by age. One early achievement of the Accelerator has been enabling age-specific data tracking to better hone interventions. Cooper also noted that open communication with leaders and frontline staff at each of their sites has enabled them to recognize that what works at one site may require some modifications to be most efficient and effective at another site.

Embedding Age-Appropriate Care into Epic

Much of the Accelerator’s work centers on hardwiring best practices for older adults into Epic, the hospital’s electronic health record, so that all patients automatically receive age-appropriate care. Rachelle Bernacki, MD, co-director of the Accelerator, explained that age-appropriate medication dosing, bowel regimens, mobility, sleep hygiene, and delirium prevention are now embedded into default orders and nursing care plans, making it easier for frontline staff to provide the best care for patients across the system. A guiding principle has been “no extra clicks,” ensuring that the Epic changes reduce, rather than add to, the workload of frontline staff. Cooper and Bernacki emphasized that buy-in from Mass General Brigham leadership was facilitated by aligning their efforts with existing system goals and by framing the work as removing barriers to good care, not adding new tasks.

Bernacki explained that to support implementation, the Accelerator established an interdisciplinary network of West Health Champions. These frontline clinicians include nurses, physicians, physician assistants, pharmacists, therapists and social workers from across Mass General Brigham’s sites to help adapt interventions, share lessons across sites and lead quality improvement efforts.

Early Outcomes and Ongoing Evaluation

Although the West Health Accelerator is still early in its implementation, Cooper shared that initial data are encouraging—showing reductions in potentially inappropriate medications, such as opiates and antipsychotics, among patients over age 65. Longer-term analyses are underway for outcomes such as length of stay and readmissions. The team is also collecting qualitative data to assess cultural change, staff experience, and implementation fidelity.