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so the research project that I want to
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talk with you about today is a project
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that we're undertaking with the support
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of the Mac Center here at Penn and this
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this research examines a phenomenon
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which is literally sweeping the country
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in the world of healthcare innovation is
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all the buzz in the world of healthcare
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these days and what we're finding is
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that a number of hospitals academic
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medical centers in particular have
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created a new role in their organization
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and that role is called chief innovation
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officer sometimes it's called vice
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president for innovation but the person
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who occupies this role is tasked with
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trying to develop new approaches new
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solutions innovative ideas and drive
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them through the organization what we're
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interested in in the in the project is
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trying to understand number one why
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hospitals are investing in the creation
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of this new role and perhaps the
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structure of the center number two who
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were the people who were being called on
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to head up these these initiatives and
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number three what are the outcomes our
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rates of innovation in any way affected
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by the creation of this role and how so
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this research were on the sort of the
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front end of the process here we're
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interviewing chief innovation officers
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and other people sort of around the
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country and academic medical centers and
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we're probably halfway down the road in
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terms of the data collection process and
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I'd be happy to share some of the
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findings with you at some point during
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this conversation we're having
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well thing I love about this project is
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it sort of fits right Foursquare in the
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center of the mac centers mandate and
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and the mac centers mandate and the and
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the the research itself the goals of
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research or to contribute in two
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dimensions one is the development of and
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further refinement of theories of
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innovation in the context of large
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complex organizations and number two is
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so what are some of the practical
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applications of the research that we do
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so we're not undertaking this research
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simply to advance theory but we're also
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very very interested in the practical
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side of this so what seems to be working
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in what context what can we learn about
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the way in which it's working or the
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kind of obstacles that organizations
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doing this encounter that we can then
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disseminate and let others learn from so
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that the process of the development of
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innovation of new approaches in these
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complex wildly complex academic medical
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centers can unfold with fewer problems
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and perhaps better outcomes
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so what's really interesting about this
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is that while everybody agrees that the
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current dilemmas that our healthcare
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system is facing require innovation and
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innovation everybody's talking about
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innovation the centers for innovation
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are slow a little diffusing somewhat
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slowly that themselves and what we found
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there are two things that are important
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at this point one is the question of so
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who's getting picked to play the role of
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chief innovation officer and what we
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find there is that sometimes the
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candidates are internal people the
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people are chosen are internal people
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physicians who understand the
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institution its culture well and in
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other cases they're outsiders who don't
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have an MD degree but who've been very
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successful in moving the needle on
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innovation in other settings outside the
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the world of healthcare that's
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interesting because there are two quite
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different theories about the
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capabilities that are required to be
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successful the second thing that we're
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learning is that implementation is the
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stumbling block while it's easy to get
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one of these things off the ground and
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to hire somebody it's it's at that point
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that the real hard work begins and what
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we're finding is that in some cases
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there's been a certain amount of success
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in moving in needle on innovation in
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other cases it's been a really tough
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slog and implementation is proving to be
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a huge challenge
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so what's really one of the things has
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been really interesting about this is to
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see how innovation is defined in
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different settings that we've observed
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and what we're finding is in some
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settings it's relevant early to find
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perhaps in terms that most of us might
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sort of off the top of our heads
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associate with an academic medical
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center their innovations in medical
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technology or innovations and surgical
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procedures but in some settings the
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definition of innovation is much broader
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and includes innovations and human
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resource practices innovations in the
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way workflows are defined and it's sort
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of a much broader view and what one of
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the things that we're interested in and
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we think we are onto something here is
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it seems that when somebody is hired
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from the outside to play this role of
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chief innovation officer and when I say
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outside I mean not only outside the
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academic Medical Center itself but
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outside the field of medicine in general
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they tend to take a much broader view of
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what innovation encompasses so the the
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range of initiatives that are undertaken
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under their Aegis is somewhat broader
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than the range of things that are
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undertaken initiatives that are
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undertaken when it's an MD who is in
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this role of chief innovation officer
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that has I think real implications down
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the road for how institutions that
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haven't already set up an Innovation
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Center haven't identified and hired a
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chief innovation officer might want to
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think about what they want to accomplish
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with this role because the kind of
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person you choose for that role is going
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to have a major impact on how innovation
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gets defined internally and then what
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the consequences are subsequently
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so what's next well I'm working with
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Kyle Meyers who's an advanced doctoral
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student in our department here at
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wharton of health management economics
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and three undergraduates in the
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engineering school on the work in health
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care that work we're in the process of
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finishing up the data collection and and
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that should be completed rather soon one
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of the fun things about this project is
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that as we've gotten into it what we
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found is that this role of chief
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innovation officer exists in other
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sectors of the economy outside
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healthcare and it's going to be very
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very interesting in terms of what's next
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to see that whether the kinds of things
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that we're finding in the world of
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healthcare also apply to similar kinds
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of initiatives outside the world of
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healthcare my suspicion at this point is
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that there will be some crossover and
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the so some of what we're learning about
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more and less effective initiatives in
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the world of healthcare will be relevant
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for organizations that are anticipating
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adding this position of chief innovation
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officer outside the world of healthcare
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so we're very excited in a practical
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sense about the implications of our
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findings in the world of healthcare to
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the world outside healthcare
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you
