American Hospital Association launches Center for Health Innovation

As providers work to keep up with a constantly evolving healthcare system, the American Hospital Association is launching an innovation center to support that work.

The AHA Center for Health Innovation will officially launch in September and was unveiled at the group's annual Leadership Summit last week. The center is designed to meet hospitals where they are in the process of delivery system or payment transformation and promote a more proactive approach to health policy.

"What I like about the center is that it's a way for us to get ahead of change instead of just responding to change," AHA Board Chair Nancy Howell Agee said at the summit.

The center will hone in on six focus areas:

  1. Affordability and value
  2. Performance improvement
  3. Innovation capacity
  4. Emerging issues
  5. Population health
  6. New payment and delivery models

RELATED: Hospital leaders see the promise of digital innovation but struggle to overcome financial and operational barriers

Maryjane Wurth, AHA executive vice president and chief operating officer, told FierceHealthcare that the launch of the center reflects feedback from the AHA's membership, which has requested that the national organization take more of a lead in driving innovation.

"Today, the opportunity for innovation and transformation, at scale, has faced a multitude of barriers, which we believe we can help overcome with new innovative partnerships and facilitating national, regional and local collaboration," Wurth said.

The center's work, she said, will build on existing AHA initiatives such as Innovation 90 and the Innovation Challenge. Each of the six focus areas will have its own programs and projects within that broader concept, according to AHA. For example, the group plans to help hospitals grow their population health programs by facilitating partnerships with community organizations and other stakeholders.

It will also provide and regularly update evidence-based training protocols and other resource that hospitals can use to further their transformation."

RELATED: Future CMS innovation center initiatives could include outcomes-based drug pricing, telehealth

In tandem with the center's launch, the AHA is also planning to expand its public policy agenda, and Wurth said that project aims to identify long-term policy issues of concern to hospitals. Part of the goal, President Rick Pollack said at the summit, is to "level the playing field" as new players—such as Walmart and Amazon—enter the healthcare space.

"We will work to make sure that every hospital in America—regardless of how you define the 'H'—has the opportunity to provide leadership in their community, as either an anchor or access point of service," Pollack said.