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May 25, 2019 01:00 AM

Healthcare executives stress being smart about innovation

Modern Healthcare

Healthcare seemingly has a huge appetite for transformation. But in an industry that changes direction at glacial speed, the most sustainable innovations may in fact come from more targeted—dare we say, incremental—approaches.

That’s not to say the industry should shy away from experimentation—being willing to “fail fast, fail forward” as Loren Brink, CEO of HealthPointe Solutions, suggested during a panel discussion at Modern Healthcare’s Transformation Summit, May 16-17, in Austin. Just the opposite. Leaders need to set a tone that stimulates innovative thinking and embraces new ways of doing business. But they can’t be reckless.

Even at some of the most forward-thinking organizations, like Jefferson Health, understanding the “what” comes before pushing the “how.” Technology leaders at the Philadelphia-based health system often spend two or three weeks with a division trying to figure out what problems need to be solved, according to Neil Gomes, chief digital officer and senior vice president for technology, innovation and consumer experience at Jefferson Health.

“Technology is a great driver of change, but the first conversation can’t be about technology,” he said.

In their words: Four healthcare leaders define ‘innovation’

Brent Burns, executive vice president at UPMC Enterprises in Pittsburgh: “We’ve had a tendency to think about it a little bit more as the ‘shiny object,’ but innovation … can happen with small process changes, small service line changes, strategy changes, as well as technology breakthroughs.”

Eric Hargan, deputy secretary at HHS: “The innovation we’re talking about (at HHS) is not simply a new drug, a new device, a new biologic—but it’s also care system innovation. … Whether it’s health IT or really just new patterns of affiliations and partnerships, or new ways for people to work with each other to provide value.”

Dr. Thomas Maddox, executive director at the Healthcare Innovation Lab at BJC HealthCare and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis: “At its highest level, innovation is three things: it’s implementation of new ideas that create value. Importantly, the new ideas don’t have to be new to the universe—they just have to be new to us.”

Dr. Richard Zane, chief innovation officer at UCHealth in Aurora, Colo.: “Innovation—like AI, like population health—means everything and nothing, all at the same time. … It may be a whiz-bang technology, it may be a device, it may be a digital solution, it may just be doing something differently. But innovation is a different way of thinking about the same problem that you’ve had.”