Reinventing Health Care Delivery: Innovation and Improvement Behind the Scenes
Bonar Menninger
September 2009
Hamstrung by an increasingly complex, costly, and disorganized system of care, health care organizations are following the lead of the corporate world and embracing innovation as a way to overcome the seemingly intractable problems that have undermined U.S. health care delivery for decades.
Today's innovation centers — most of which are affiliated with large hospitals or health systems — range in scope from modest internal programs to large, formalized organizations with dedicated physical space, sizable staffs, and external clients. Key areas of emphasis include facility design, operational efficiency, optimized information technologies, improvements in the patient experience, and care quality.
In 2009, leaders at health care innovation organizations nationwide were interviewed to learn more about how the centers operated, the objectives they were pursuing, and some of the challenges they faced.
The complete issue brief is available under Document Downloads below. Also available is a video presentation on the Garfield Health Care Innovation Center at Kaiser through the External Link below.