Innovation in Health Care
Abstract
This paper explores innovations in healthcare and the barriers involved. Research includes the trials of political and managerial influences and how they promote or delay the execution of innovative health care. The benefits of innovative healthcare will be outlined as well as the challenges faced through barriers on many levels throughout business and political operations. Ultimately, the paper is in favor of innovative healthcare and advocates to enrich the reader on the overall importance of effective and rapid innovation in the medical sector. The paper also explores the weak points of the American health care system and references solutions from experts regarding the subject.
Innovation in Health Care
The adoption of innovative technology in the health care sector is continuing to be over looked and remains an uncelebrated asset. With the era of medical and biological technology advancement, the US health sector remains nonreactive, showing little concern to the gift of innovations in the health care field. Failure to give the gift of innovative healthcare means the receivers of the gift will not get it and thus not able to enjoy the benefits. Postponement of the use of innovative technology has lagged down the full adoption of the technology in health. The US government has passed Acts, Statutes and other legislations seeking to improve the sector. The HITEC Act is among the many attempts made by the stakeholders in the health sector to encourage the use of innovative technologies. Despite innovations in wearable Technologies (Google Glass, Nike+), Microchips Modeling Clinical Trials, 3D Printed Biological Materials, Optogenetics, Hybrid Operating Rooms, Digestible Sensors and Cloud-Based Management Software, the health provisions around the country continues to lack and remain bleak.
The health sector has not been able to exploit the benefits and continues to experience a myriad of challenges in achieving efficiency, quality health, better record keeping and overall health care delivery. Healthcare is an important part of human life, especially in these challenging times. Kenagy (2009) suggests that technological innovations in health care and management of these innovations are the tools to achieving efficient health care. Moreover, technological innovations have been faced with a plethora of challenges threatening technological adoption in the field. This paper attempts to establish the relationship between innovation in health care and recommend better health care services (Chaudhry et al., 2006). The paper will discuss the benefits of innovative technologies in health care. It will then focus on the challenges in adopting and adapting to the innovation in the health sector. Lastly, the paper will focus on the probable solutions to the challenges in the adoption of technological innovation among other innovations.
According to Kenagy (2009), the concept of innovation cannot be overlooked in any sector of the economy and more so with the changing medical needs and requirements. In his book ‘Designed to Adapt', he describes innovation as what happens on the occasion(s) when one improves or rather makes a significant contribution to what already exists in order to improve the quality of the results to the problem. Innovation in any sector according to his managerial principles requires one to work with and adapt to the continuous environmental changes to enhance the productivity and quality of the product and process (Morgon, 2015). Innovation and ability to adapt and implement innovations have earlier been described as a genius, accidental undertaking to improve health care services. It is, therefore, imperative to consider improved health care innovations as part of adapting to the needs of the ever-changing health care environment.
Benefits of Innovation in Healthcare
There are many benefits derived from the innovative health care projects and programs in the world today. The benefits range from quality improvement, efficiency, information technologies and records management. To establish the need for the innovation health care, it is important to look into these benefits in depth.
Quality of Care
Physicians’ main focus in innovation is to be able to improve the quality of care to the patients. The quality of health care can be said to be a defined degree of excellence in delivering health care. Kenagy (2009) chooses to use the term ‘continual improvement’ to shape the process of innovation. Continual improvement implies the ability to respond promptly or adapt to the design of the health sector. The quality of care has been achieved through innovation in the health sector in several ways. The handling and maintenance of medical records has been enhanced through Electronic Medical Records (EMR) which is an advanced innovation in electronic record keeping and is paperless. Physicians have developed EMR in response to the need of patient record safety. With this innovation, patients can receive faster and more efficient services due to faster retrieval of records. More so, medical practitioners have been able to access medical history of their patients and therefore provide better services.
Computerized Physician Order Entry as an innovation has greatly reduced the deaths occurring as a result of medical errors. It recognizes the need for the physicians to be extra careful in giving any medical attention. Kenagy (2009) argues that quality of care is a team role and that quality will not be achieved without the organizational commitment to the patients through a customer-based health approach. The quality of care must be backed by an improved learning laboratory and also the construction of innovation incubators. The quality of care is what determines the level of satisfaction and the overall health and wellness of the country. The quality of care involves customer satisfaction, attendance to emergency cases, the speed of information flow, and availability of avenues for the interdisciplinary participation in health care (Chaudhry et al., 2006). However, much more quality measurement parameters are needed for an entire view of innovation benefits. More research needs to be done in this field.
Efficiency
According to Kenagy (2009), innovation in health should drive towards given cost effective health care service to all the patients. One of his major concerns is the use of innovation in health care to gain success through offering better health care at reduced costs. He says ‘The secret to success in 21st century health care is actually no secret at all. Get patients exactly what they need at a continually lower cost'. Adoption of the innovations according to Institute of Medicine (IOM) must lead to effective cost reduction in the health care services. Innovations such as insurance services should enhance the delivery of care to all the patients at reduced costs. Herzlinger (2006) points out that effectiveness is the major benefit of innovation in health care. Better infrastructure means that surgeries and disease screening will be done in the right way and therefore provide better treatment. Wearable Technologies (Google Glass, Nike+), Microchips Modeling Clinical Trials, 3D Printed Biological Materials, Optogenetics, Hybrid Operating Rooms, Digestible Sensors among other innovations have improved the diagnosis and screening of diseases through creating the human being into a virtual object. Better screening, diagnosis, surgeries, treatment and monitoring of the diseases have enhanced health care services. On accessibility of information, efficiency is achieved where access to personal medical information have been enhanced. Tracking of the records and receiving the results from the medical texts is also made possible through innovations.
Health Care Delivery
According to Kenagy (2009) and Herzlinger (2006), health care delivery should be the driving force and the mother of heath care innovations. John Kenagy, in his adaptive design, gives the tools, methods and skills to get healthcare back to the ideals of patient care. This is where the patient service is at the heart of innovations. He focuses on developing innovation leaders who are occupied with the need to enhance patient recovery and satisfaction through health care delivery.
Omachonu and Einspruch (2010) discussed the various levels of innovations which lead to enhanced health care delivery. They define health care innovation as the beneficial introduction of new concepts, ideas, process, products and service in improving the level of treatment, outreach, prevention, education and research towards the patient's needs. They then advocate that health care delivery depends on the four innovations which are; product, process, marketing and organizational innovation.
Product innovation involves the introduction of goods and services which improves the technical specifications, incorporated software, functional characteristics among other useful characteristics. Examples in this may be innovations in the diagnosis of diseases. Process innovation involves improvement in health care delivery methods. For example, the process of booking an appointment with a doctor for surgery time may be highly improved. The referral process is also enhanced through improved communication between the health care providers. Process innovation also improves the interaction period with the health provider while also improving participatory health care (Morgon, 2015). Marketing innovation has enhanced the access to better services and medicine. It involves new methods of marketing and delivery of health care services making them more accessible to the customers. Lastly, they argued that organizational innovation involves the improvement of the business model to enhance health care delivery.
Herzlinger (2006) adds that the structuring of a business model is among the best innovations for effective health care delivery. Herzlinger (2006) recommends horizontal and vertical integrations as innovative ways of enhancing health care delivery. The ‘focused factories' organizations are also the avenue of reducing the costs of healthcare delivery. Studies have not been able to show how various health business models can effectively improve health care delivery (Tu & Ginsburg, 2007). The future research can be conducted on this topic.
Reasons for Failure in Health Care Innovation
Kenagy (2009) has focused on the management of the innovation as the strength and the source of failure to the health care innovations attempts in the US. His research suggests that leaders who are not cultivating adaptability are the main cause of failure in the innovations. Essentially, failure of health care innovations and the health sector adaptability are caused by some barriers. Herzlinger (2006) argues that the failure is caused by the inability to manage and coordinate the players in the sector by way of funding, policy, technology, customers and accountability. To discuss the levels of failure, he establishes the specific levels of innovations which can be directly associated with the above.
Failure in Customer Focused Innovations
According to Herzlinger (2006), hostile industry players and the advocates of status quo can be an interference to successful adoption of innovation in health care. Kenagy (2009) points out that the players in the health care industry must be willing to change with the environment in which they are living. He suggests the unwillingness to change brings failure to the whole health care industry. Physicians opposed to the direct-to-customer pharmaceutical advertising, for example, may lead to poor performance of the health care sector and fails to improve the use of their innovations (Chaudhry et al., 2006). Poor infrastructures and channels of reaching customers are also the hindrance to the development of customer-focused innovation as the customers are not able to receive any better services (Tu & Ginsburg, 2007). Opponents of the health care innovations, which are customer-based, may influence the public policy to hinder the successful implementation of the innovative strategies. For example, facility specialties of specific disease innovation have been hindered by various public policy makers with profit interests in the facilities (Morgon, 2015).
Barriers to Technology-Based Innovation
The barriers, in this case, are quite abundant. The ability of 5,000 government health facilities to adapt to new technology has been affected by the need for accountability to the government and the public (Morgon, 2015). For example, the government requires demonstrations that the new products/innovations can work better and in a cost effective manner than the existing facilities and/or products. The government may also impose in a long process of innovation evaluation by keeping viable innovations in the laboratory and incubation centers for a long period of time. This slows down implementation of the innovations hence deductive innovations (Tu & Ginsburg, 2007). On funding, technological-based innovations are faced with the challenge of having to follow many processes and bureaucracies before getting the necessary funding. Before getting the funding approval for the innovation, the physician will have to seek support from other physicians, powerful intermediaries, hospitals, GPOs, and purchasing organizations among other groups (Chaudhry et al., 2006). All this will take place before the funding of the products. Innovators are also supposed to account for the economics of the insurers, further increasing the funding of the products required. These bureaucracies are universal even to those products that are known to reduce the cost of operation as well as shortening the length of a hospital stay. Technology has also proven to act as a barrier in itself. Some innovators may tend to obsess with their gadget/products and, therefore, are blinded to competing ideas (Tu & Ginsburg, 2007). While innovator products can be used to treat a given disease, they should not be blinded by that one product.
Barriers to Business Model Innovation
In this level of innovation, there are many barriers as well but mainly the concern is with the management of the health care sector. The barriers here are on integrating and consolidating the practices of independent physicians in the treatment of a given disease. The integrations and consolidations are expected to reduce the treatment cost as well as improving the quality of care to the patient. Attempts to turn a health care facility into a disease specialty facility, is faced with the challenge of losing financial income (Chaudhry et al., 2006). As a consumer-focused venture, adoption of this business model can be opposed by physicians, local hospitals, consumers, and industrial players, who may ultimately feel threatened by the idea. Public policy cards can be used by the powerful community-based providers to prevent the business model innovations from taking place. On funding, vertical consolidation may not be able to secure investment since there is no reimbursement for the integrated treatment of diseases (Morgon, 2015). Though vertical integration may be a better way of ensuring health care delivery and quality, it is faced with the capital funding difficulty which the insurance companies are not willing to handle. Technology and IT infrastructures are also the main barriers to business-model innovation. Without robust IT and integration software, an organization may not be able to establish a good integration for its operation.
Remedies for Failure of Health Care Innovation
According to Kenagy (2009), there are many innovations in healthcare which are not used for improving the quality of life for the people of America. Ideas and innovations have remained in the incubations and laboratories for so long that it never benefits people and never is utilized to solve the problem it was designed for. Kenagy (2009) places the blame of the lagged health care innovations in the management of the health care sectors, the industry players as well as the government. Solutions in getting through these barriers are necessary to enhance the full enjoyment of the benefits. The solutions depend by large on manipulating the six forces (players, funding, policy, technology, customers, and accountability (Morgon, 2015).
Prescriptions for Public Policy
This ‘Prescription for Public Policy’ involves all citizens in the U.S. to have health insurance coverage. This would increase innovations in the health sector where all individuals are covered by insurance. This will help the government and the player to reduce the operation costs and hence improve innovations (Chaudhry et al., 2006). This issue; however, is known to be highly politicized as the government and the industry player work with such systems to create their fortunes.
The government should take part in the consumer-driven system where the government controls the spending on health insurance in the market. Through the taxation system, the government can be able to align effectively the consumers and innovators' interest through fair taxation of the consumers and their employers. They will be able to fund the health care innovations efficiently.
Avoiding the Obstacles
The most effective method of enhancing innovation in the health care system is through avoiding the earlier stated obstacle. Kenagy (2009) talks about avoiding the barriers while managing them closely in the introduction and implementation of the innovations.
Avoiding barriers to consumer-based innovation-organizations and health sectors should be cost conscious on what consumers require. They should also bear in mind the factor of time-pressed consumers. Customer-based innovations should focus on the short wait and low prices to enhance acceptability by the industry players and the consumers. Treatment of the common ailments should be offered on simple Health Stops with the cheapest possible equipment (Chaudhry et al., 2006). Opponents of Health Stops argue that nurses may not be able to spot more serious disease and hence quality is compromised. However, the proponents have recommended the improvement by establishing in-network relationships with major health plans.
Avoiding barriers to business model innovation had been done earlier through the efforts of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) which managed to consolidate the management of 190 hospitals and 200 outpatient centers. Politically powerful academic medical centers were a significant part of the strategy, thus influencing public policy in the support of the innovations (Chaudhry et al., 2006). The customers, as well as the doctors, also cooperated in the innovation implementation as it was developed in regions which were underserved by the individual hospitals. More so, there was certainty of reimbursement by the insurers and the other investors which enabled HCA to facilitate its construction activities. Additionally, HCA was able to access the finances from equity market which non-profit organizations may not be able to access.
Conclusion
Innovations in health care in the United States should be carried out with the seriousness it deserves. With increased health care demands, innovations in technology and health care business models, customer focus is necessary to ensure sustainability of the sector (Chaudhry et al., 2006). Patients today need to be served more efficiently in coordination with the change in environmental structures. Information on health care needs to be available to individuals and health practitioners for efficient and participatory treatment. More so, there is more demand for quality health care services as well as improved health care delivery. Health care innovation is the solution to the rising demand for health care services.
According to Kenagy (2009), sustainability in the health sector depends on effective management and innovation leadership. It is also stated that there can be no alternative way to succeed unless the health sector is ready and able to adapt to the design of the innovations and the changes in the health care environment. To enhance the adaptability, it has been necessary to identify and recognize the various forces limiting the adaptability to the innovations. All stakeholders and industry players should take a collaborative role in reducing the barriers to technological, customer-focused and business model innovations. Manipulation of players, funding, policy, technology, customers and the accountability of driving forces in innovation gives possibilities of success in health care innovation management (Chaudhry et al., 2006). Kenagy (2009) suggests, that managers and leaders should cultivate characteristics which favor the continued growth in the health sector innovation. Adaptive design to management is mandatory in health care sector.
References
Chaudhry, B., Wang, J., Wu, S., Maglione, M., Mojica, W., Roth, E, & Shekelle, P. G. (2006). Systematic review: impact of health information technology on quality, efficiency, and costs of medical care. Annals of internal medicine, 144(10), 742-752.
Herzlinger, R. E. (2006). Why innovation in health care is so hard. Harvard business review, 84(5), 58.
Kenagy, J. (2009). Designed to Adapt: Leading' Healthcare in challenging times. Bozeman, MT: Second River Healthcare.
Morgon, P. A. (2015). Sustainable Development for the Healthcare Industry: Reprogramming the Healthcare Value Chain.
Tu, H. T., & Ginsburg, P. B. (2007). Benefit design innovations: implications for consumer-directed health care. Issue Brief Cent Stud Health Syst Change, 109, 1-6.
