Better, cheaper, and faster are no longer just buzzwords for health care leaders; they are the things that keep them up at night. With growing pressures from a bad economy, imminent federal health reform, and aging baby boomers, institutions are pushing to innovate care delivery. But long-term success requires that innovations in health care thrive beyond the pilot test. What looks good under controlled conditions can easily fail in the real world.

This series of case studies looks at some of America's major health care providers and how they have harnessed the power of innovation — and learned the lessons of spread — to improve their organizations.

The publications will be released as they are ready and focus on several large providers, including:

• Mayo Clinic, with several departments devoted exclusively to innovation
• Partners HealthCare, which develops tools and services to lure consumers into using technology to improve their health
• Kaiser Permanente, where the large infrastructure enables extensive testing of ideas
• Ascension Health, whose Transformational Development business unit seeks ideas outside the organization

The first three case studies in the series are available as Document Downloads.