Summit Preview: Innovation at Atrium Health and Advocate Health

As CHIME Innovation prepares to converge in Charlotte, NC, for our Fall Innovation Summit on “Solving Workforce Challenges,” we spoke with Summit Host Andy Crowder SVP, Chief Information Officer, and Southeast Region & Enterprise Chief Digital Technology Officer, Advocate Health; and Todd Dunn, VP of Enterprise Innovation, Advocate Health. We wanted to get a peek “under the hood” to see how these and other leaders have built a world-class innovation management process at Advocate, as a preview for those who will be converging on the event this fall.

In this conversation, they highlight the approach to innovation that they have developed:

Q: How do you define innovation at Atrium Health and Advocate Health? 

A: We define innovation more as a process of how to produce measurable and meaningful outcomes that our consumers, customers, and company expect.

Q: What are some of the things that you do that make this kind of innovation possible? 

A: We have a well-defined IAS governance structure that helps move the prioritized innovation opportunities along in an aligned way. We have also committed to innovation as a culture commitment. In alignment and in support of our governance structure, and to make the culture commitment a reality, our innovation engine team has designed a business model innovation system with standard language, tools, and methods that we call Design for Impact. 

Q: For smaller to midsize hospitals without the kind of resources you may have access to, what are some things they can do in a low-cost but high-impact way beyond just quality improvement and patient safety? 

A: They can take time to immerse themselves in the context of the opportunity or problem and use tools that encourage them to “learn fast and learn cheap.” Testing assumptions and using wise governance helps reduce the risk of investing a lot of time and money into an assumption that isn’t valid. [Some of these tools include Strategyzer’s Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas, which we will discuss at the Summit.]

Q: What are some key takeaways for attendees of the Solving Workforce Challenges Summit to take back to their own organizations? 

A: Because we must allocate time and money appropriately, having criteria to prioritize what will be worked on is key. Governance that creates alignment on which problem of consequence or opportunity of significance to address is key.  They also can create a system of innovation.  Create a system with standard language, tools, methods, and governance to guide teams.   Focus less on the definition of innovation and focus more on the system that drives what will be focused on.

Q: What are some of the workforce shortage challenges specific to Atrium Health and Advocate Health?

A: We’re not immune to the industry-wide challenges. We especially need more nurses and front-line caregivers. Everyone is being asked to do more with less, and we are doing all we can to help return the joy of medicine back to the front line and reduce stress.

Q: What strategies have you successfully utilized to overcome those challenges, that you may be discussing in September in more detail, to incentivize people to attend the summit? 

A: One example is reducing documentation time for dialysis by an hour or more per day, through the use of a new dialysis technology and business model. On top of this, we are utilizing AI to reduce documentation time, implementing innovative approaches to scheduling, etc.

As you can see from these responses, there’s a lot to learn from the people at Atrium Health and Advocate Health! We hope you will register today to be part of this significant event, where thought leaders in a variety of roles within healthcare who are driving innovation with their organization can learn from each other and advance the conversation around healthcare innovation across the industry.

Click this link to register today! Those who attend can meet and speak with Andy and Todd in person, as well as our other distinguished faculty panel and attendees. Find out more about our CHIME Innovation Summit: Solving Workforce Challenges: https://www.chimeinnovation.org/fall-2023-innovation-summit