The master clinical lexicon. Integrated product team approach

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs established a vendor consortium to develop a clinical lexicon for use by all Department of Defense (DoD) health care services and systems. Commercial vendors of lexicon software and government team members participated in an Integrated Product Team (IPT) from September 1996 through March 1997 to develop a “proof of concept” demonstration of how this lexicon will perform in the DoD clinical environment. After the first meeting of 40 members of the government and competing vendors, the Government IPT chairperson determined the use of Electronic Meeting Software (EMS) was essential to enhance communication and to promote consensus among the diverse members of the group. During the course of the five-month long project, use of the EMS focused the team on their accomplishments and the tasks yet to be completed, insured the ability of all team members to express their concerns, questions, and issues, and maintained documentation of all decisions and actions. After the demonstration of the lexicon and presentation to the Assistant Secretary of Defense, the IPT chairperson congratulated the team members on the exceptional results of this “first-of-its-kind” government and commercial vendor collaborative effort The use of EMS was cited as a critical success factor in managing the work of this team. This paper outlines the processes and rationale behind the sessions and provides a framework for future IPT efforts to follow