Healthcare innovation--essential to achieve the industry's goal of the Triple Aim--has stalled in many cases as hospital leaders fear giving up existing business models and disrupting workflow. But healthcare leaders can, and must, take steps to advance innovation, according to a post from Health Affairs.
In many cases, innovative and information technology solutions are more likely to falter due to lack of support the closer they get to the boardroom or C-suite, writes Jaan Sidorov, M.D., chief medical officer at health technology firm medSolis, Inc., in the piece.
To overcome such biases and truly sell healthcare leaders and board members on the value of IT-based care innovation initiatives, Sidorov says innovation advocates must:
- Account for non-financial, non-clinical measures of success, such as care experience and reputation within the marketplace.
- Look to examples of similar technology succeeding in other industries.
- Avoid the use of vague descriptions such as “research” when describing initiatives, as these terms may cause some people to question the value of the projects.
Policymakers also have a role to play in accelerating care delivery innovation, according to a second Health Affairs post. Medicare regulations overwhelmingly require in-person care delivery despite increased IT innovation in the form of telehealth and remote-monitoring technology; in 2014, Medicare spent only $14 million of its $608.7 billion budget on telemedicine.
With that in mind, say the authors, from the National Coalition on Health Care, policymakers must take steps to remove such barriers to high-tech care delivery, in combination with other moves such as lowering cost barriers to higher-value services and expanding proven delivery models. These steps “will accelerate the transition toward more affordable, higher quality healthcare in Medicare and across our healthcare system,” they say.
To learn more:
|- read the first post
- here’s the second post