AHA launches Center for Health Innovation to advance healthcare

The American Hospital Association has launched the AHA Center for Health Innovation to help hospitals and healthcare systems build the capabilities they need at-scale to succeed in value-based care.

The AHA’s step is the latest in the industry intended to help bring new practices and digital capabilities to the nation’s provider organizations.

“This is a pivotal moment for the field, as hospitals and healthcare systems face unprecedented challenges and opportunities,” said Rick Pollack, AHA’s president and CEO, in a written statement. “Innovation isn’t limited to Silicon Valley. Hospitals and health systems across the country have been incubators of innovation. The center will help us disseminate what is working, as well as test new ideas to improve outcomes and increase value and affordability.”

Specifically, the AHA Center for Health Innovation is meant to test new payment and delivery models, utilize information technology and data in novel ways, as well as develop the leadership skills and competencies necessary to transform healthcare by identifying breakthrough ideas and opportunities and putting them into practice.

Also See: AMA platform seeks to encourage physician input on innovation

The center’s initial offerings include:

• Cybersecurity and risk advisory services—Provides access to expert resources to protect vital information by assessing risk, investigating vulnerabilities, engineering an IT security environment and staying up to date on the latest cyber threats.
  
• Data-driven market intelligence—Regular updates on the forces shaping healthcare and how they will impact hospitals and health systems. Future offerings will also include in-depth analyses of emerging issues and trends in the industry.
  
• Innovation 90 Boot Camps—A 90-day coaching program that helps healthcare leaders learn the latest innovation frameworks being used in industries—from technology to manufacturing—and to validate innovative ideas using techniques including design thinking, agile development, iterative prototyping and application.
  
• AHA Innovation Challenge: Building on the success of 2018 AHA Innovation Challenge, in which hospitals and health systems shared creative approaches for integrated care delivery re-design and financing targeted at populations with complex needs, the 2019 challenge is looking for input on how healthcare could benefit most from a competition that provides resources to support and scale innovative solutions.
  

The center’s cybersecurity and risk advisory services are being led by John Riggi, former FBI cyber executive and AHA’s senior advisor when it comes to these threats. The goal is to help hospitals and health systems develop the defenses they need to protect their networks and data.


“The healthcare field is at a place in time where innovation is critical,” said Wright Lassiter III, an AHA board member and president and CEO of the Henry Ford Health System. “We need innovation to deploy technology in a way that allows us to deliver better care, to deliver more affordable care and more efficient care. This is the perfect time for the AHA to launch the Center for Health Innovation because hospitals and health systems across the United States are at a place where they are in dire need of support, of partnership, of ideas from the AHA and a vehicle to share those amongst themselves and across the U.S. healthcare field.”