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Triage & Prioritization (pick the first target)

The fastest way to help is not “fix everything.” It is to pick the highest-frequency pain that requires the least clinical judgment and has a clear owner.

Score each candidate task (0-3)

A) Frequency

• 0 = rare
• 1 = weekly
• 2 = daily
• 3 = many times/day

B) Minutes per occurrence

• 0 = <1 min
• 1 = 1-3 min
• 2 = 4-7 min
• 3 = 8+ min

C) Clinical judgment required (reverse score)

• 0 = high judgment / high stakes
• 1 = moderate
• 2 = low
• 3 = mostly clerical / assembly

D) Risk if wrong (reverse score)

• 0 = high harm potential
• 1 = moderate
• 2 = low
• 3 = minimal (administrative)

E) Owner clarity

• 0 = nobody owns it
• 1 = shared vaguely
• 2 = one team mostly owns it
• 3 = one role clearly owns it

F) Effort / dependencies (reverse score)

• 0 = multi-month IT / payer / legal dependency
• 1 = several approvals or significant build work
• 2 = one team can probably ship it this month
• 3 = clinic-controlled in days

Priority score

Priority = (A + B + C + D + E + F)

Start with the top 1-2 tasks. Ship a small fix. Measure. Repeat.

Good first targets (usually)

• prior auth packet assembly
• denial cleanup when the same reason keeps repeating
• referral handoff ownership
• drafting patient message replies for common topics
• visit note drafting from a structured outline
• routine med refill protocol routing (rules + flags)
• duplicate portal entry or duplicate form upload

Bad first targets (usually)

• denying care
• high-stakes triage without clear ownership
• anything that replaces consent conversations
• complicated workflow fights where no team will own the change

Rule of thumb

If you cannot answer “who owns this mess once we touch it?” you are probably not ready to start there.

Equity / access check

Before you pick a winner, ask:

• who might this make worse off?
• how would we notice quickly?
• does this save time by shifting burden onto harder patients?

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