Memorial Hospital-South Bend - Hospital innovators 2007

Location: South Bend, IN Website: www.qualityoflife.org What they’re doing: Memorial, a 525-bed regional hospital, has been around since 1894, but managers have taken a decidedly modern approach. Memorial is one of the few, if not the only, U.S. hospitals to establish a dedicated R&D center, and one of the few to establish "innovation" as one of its core values. Memorial's R&D managers have turned to organizations outside healthcare, such as 3M, Dupont, Motorola and Land's End, to set standards for managing an in-house innovation program—and has partnered with these companies to develop healthcare-related products. Along the way, Memorial has worked with design and product development firm IDEO, an international leader. On IDEO's recommendation, execs were brave enough to halt construction on a $40M heart/vascular center and redesign it to meet IDEO's "strategy by design" approach. Not only that, Memorial has set up a program, based on Tom Peters' WOW methodology, which gives anyone on the staff a chance to contribute useful ideas. This isn't a free-for-all--the ideas must meet some stringent criteria for usefulness and be backed by a project team—but it does give everyone on the staff a chance to help the hospital meet its goals. Memorial has set a goal of generating $1M in revenue on innovative projects, and last year, it did. Very impressive—and a model for others to follow.