Detroit has had its difficulties, but there are many signs of a comeback. One organization that’s leading the way in Motor City is Henry Ford Health System, founded one hundred years ago by the automotive innovator of the same name. I recently had the pleasure of spending a couple of days at the Henry Ford Innovation Institute, a facet of the Henry Ford Health Systems Innovationsprogram, and was able to observe first-hand what it takes to create new value in an industry (and city) that can benefit from it. Here are some of the major components that breathe life into Henry Ford Innovations’ efforts. How can you learn from this successful example?
Commitment and Support from Senior Leadership
The Innovations program got its start nearly three years ago as a response from Henry Ford’s leadership to what they saw as a challenging future for the healthcare industry. By leveraging all of the system’s assets, the leadership recognized that the institution could create new solutions that specifically addressed some of healthcare’s major looming challenges , leading to many direct and indirect benefits for the system.
Nancy Schlichting, CEO of Henry Ford Health System, has adopted a refreshing leadership philosophy. “The most important word is yes,” explains Schlichting.“It is difficult to create a culture of innovation. If you shut down one person you shut down everyone, because bad news travels fast. When it comes to innovation, my mantra is yes.”
Henry Ford Health System President and COO Robert Riney wants to make this effort foundational. “If innovation isn’t in our DNA how can we organize and take advantage of it?” asks Riney. “That’s why we started the Henry Ford Innovations program and created the Institute to carry it out—we have put in place a system that has demystified the innovation process for our workforce.”
Mark Coticchia, VP and Chief Innovation Officer, understands the level of commitment necessary to make innovation flourish, as well as the benefits that can accrue when it works. “We are in the early stages of a long-term strategy, but it’s worth the effort. By getting this right, we will be able to enhance the experiences of patients, donors and future recruits—and our reputation will continue to improve.”
Changing Culture Through Accessible Opportunities
Leadership support is important, but another driver of employee engagement for innovation is creating meaningful and accessible opportunities to participate. During my second day onsite I was able to attend the final judging phase of a competition seeking clinical applications for the growing field of wearable technology. The competition was part of an ongoing innovation challenge program, intended to create a channel for getting employees involved in the innovation process, and to draw out new solutions to some of healthcare’s biggest unsolved problems. There were five finalists drawn from a field of thirty teams, all with interesting ideas about the future of wearable innovations. The challenge awarded $10,000 in total prizes to winners. Here’s how the finalists fared:
- Grand Prize Winner: Acute Care Mobility – Gwen Gnam, RN MSN and Dr. Ilan Rubinfeld
System designed to record and encourage mobility of acute care patients in the inpatient setting, utilizing wearable activity trackers
- Second Place Winner: MiROM – Dr. Robert Keller and Dr. Nicholas Frisch – Recovery tool for total hip replacement, intended to monitor and limit range of motion during rehab using wearable sensors
- Third Place Winner: Sweet Dreams – Dr. Suraj Raheja – Monitoring and alert system for nocturnal hypoglycemia
- Other Finalists:
- Healthaze – Dr. Hemant Shah and Dr. David Allard – A health and wellness reminder system for elderly patients, utilizing location based sensors and smart watches
- HealthPet – Dr. Zachary Delproposto and Dr. David Parrish – A mobile game interface powered by activity trackers designed to encourage exercise and combat childhood obesity
The potential for cash awards is not the biggest driver of participation; many participants say they would do it even if there was no prize, because for them it’s about the experience and access to the program. However, it doesn’t hurt, and some winners plan on using their winnings to support product development work.
