HIMSS14: How to build an innovation program

ORLANDO--With all the pressures on healthcare, many organizations are embracing innovation as a means to help reduce costs while improving care quality and patient outcomes. Three representatives from organizations with innovation programs shared their experiences during a panel session at the Innovation Symposium at the Health Information and Management Systems Society annual conference.

The infrastructure in place to help support the ability to continuously innovate is important, said Chris McCarthy, MPH, MBA, director of Kaiser Permanente’s innovation program. There are five elements “we are thinking critically about,” he said: people, spaces, methods, tools and networks.

In addition, McCarthy said a critical success factor of the internal design group is its multidisciplinary diversity which “allows us to tackle very complex problems.”

Innovators need innovative spaces to be creative, he said. While Kaiser’s Garfield Innovation Center offers 32,000 square feet including a practice hospital, home and clinic, “the typical cubicle doesn’t inspire people.” His team took down their cubicle dividing walls and brought in red chairs.  

Design methodologies and the science of improvement also are important, McCarthy said. Evidence-based design practice “allows us to continue innovating.” Innovations need to either add joy or remove pain, otherwise they are not sustainability. “We must ensure that pain factor goes away in the things we deliver.”

Kaiser’s innovation team focuses on two types of projects: those that yield an innovation and knowledge projects that provide insight. “Often we start working on things without fully understanding what the challenge really is,” said McCarthy. “Play your way into the insight.”

McCarthy also said innovators need to start with low-risk projects and build up their experience and confidence. “I’ve seen over and over again, organizations form an innovation group because they have a high risk problem but they don’t have the experience and confidence to be successful. You need to get good at the process of innovation. That improves your ability to take on high risks later on.”

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center created its Technology Development Center four years ago and now includes 150 employees, said Rebecca Kaul, MISM, MBA, president of the center. The organization “used to have pockets of innovation but no dedicated group.” The Technology Development Center’s mission is to transform the delivery of medicine through smart technology. “We are focused on high impact, high value and commercial delivery. If we are going to develop something, it follows that that is worth bringing to market.”  

When setting an innovation program, Kaul said organizations need to decide who they are and who they aren’t. “A lot of people had a lot of different ideas but we needed to decide what’s important and what’s outside our scope even if it’s a great idea.” Organizations should determine what makes them unique and then establish a strategy and philosophy. Also, organizations should determine how to measure success. That’s important because many in the corporate world see innovation programs as a luxury, she said. “When the purse straps need to be tightened, innovation can be cut because it’s not running the core business. It’s important to think about how you will show the value of your organization.”

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston is in the early stages of setting up an innovation program, said Adam Landman, MD, MS, MIS, MHS, CMIO of the organization’s health information innovation and integration.

External motivators such as the Affordable Care Act and changing reimbursement structures are leading BWH to “encourage providers and systems to eliminate waste and improve efficiency.” He said the organization also is concerned about research revenues and is “starting to think about alternatives to support investigators.”

BWH’s Innovation Hub, or iHub, is “trying to support and facilitate innovation in our institution and by our staff,” Landman said. Secondary goals include improving internal dissemination of innovation and improving commercialization.

Early on, Landman said he has faced some challenges such as, so far, doing all the work with no formal budget. He’s been trying to get seed funding and working on a business plan. “We’re finding it difficult to set achievable objectives that are realistic and how do we come up with metrics appealing to leadership that have short-term wins.” He said he has a team that will be on Shark Tank, the TV shows the matches start-up companies with experienced business investors.

Landman said he is working on building an internal team. “You don’t need a lot of money to get this started. You need people who are excited.”

Kaul said innovation programs need people that can manage, drive and handle change. “We evolve constantly in what we’re trying to drive forward. We need people comfortable with that.”

McCarthy said he looks for people who are playful, smart, funny and fast. He purposely has hired people with no healthcare experience “specifically to bring fresh eyes into our environment. Our intergenerational mix is extremely important.”