Connected Health: Can healthcare ‘behemoths’ innovate?

BOSTON--Can the “behemoths” in healthcare innovate? Three innovation leaders at large organizations answered yes, and shared their thoughts during Partners HealthCare’s 10th Annual Connected Health Symposium.

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., opened its Center for Innovation five years ago with the goal of learning how to apply design thinking to current healthcare challenges, said Douglas Wood, MD, who serves as medical director.

“We are working to transform the way people experience health from people instead of patient to health instead of healthcare. Health is the ability to function as normally as possible and achieve goals whether you have chronic health issues or not,” he said. To that end, the center is seeking solutions to change the way people experience their health.

The center’s diverse staff of anthropologists, engineers, behavioral specialists and clinicians translate their discoveries into clinical practices, Wood said. “Once you understand the needs of individuals, then you can co-create solutions. You use people to create solutions and test prototypes before you scale it to production.”

Also, Mayo is partnering with outside organizations, in particular with Arizona State University in a study to understand what health means to college students.

For Christopher Coburn, MBA, vice president, research ventures and licensing, Partners HealthCare, collaboration is indispensable in the pursuit of innovation. “The mandate to innovate is as high as it’s ever been in healthcare. It’s becoming a new mode, and collaboration defines it more than ever.”

In addition, he said organizations must factor in discovery and innovation and measure it broadly from an organizational standpoint to determine how much emphasis and resources should be channeled into leadership and entrepreneurship. However, Coburn said, “Academic innovation gets talked about, but in my travels, it’s hard to say it’s a discipline,” and said the "Darwinian" educational system for physicians must be changed.

“You would intuitively like to believe those folks have ideas to do it better,” he said, but noted that the large environment tends to pull them away from innovation. He suggested that physicians be encouraged to travel to other institutions and see more innovations.

Martin Conner, PhD, executive director of the Centre for Health Practice Innovation, Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, cited the strong need to improve healthcare outcomes and quality of care. The center, he said, pursues public/private research grant opportunities and works with the private sector in its goal to develop collaborative, innovative and sustainable models of care and frameworks for practice among service providers and individuals, families and communities.

For innovation to take place in a large setting, alignment must occur at all levels of the organization, from the board to clinical teams, to determine strategy, identify the core business and where to partner, he said.

Clinical teams should be the focus point of innovation, he said. “The clinical teams are really where it’s at. Excitement comes from the clinical team environment and the question is how to get leaders behind them.” The best and brightest clinicians should be sought; “Money is no object to get world class talent.” Eco-systems should be developed within the organization so innovation can take place that aligns with corporate priorities, with clear routes to achieving property intelligence and eventual commercialization, he said.

At Mayo Clinic, Wood said metrics are in place intended to help department chairs meet goals, which are shared with executive leadership. “We try to make sure we create flexibility in management targets for individuals, find ways to advance academic interests and career,” he said.

Wood described the innovation center as a “safe space” where people can work together and not be bound by the culture of the organization. He said professional organizations are expressing interest in the center’s experiments in primary and community care. “It takes a conscious effort to develop it. It took five to eight years to get where we are now.”