Why care innovation lags behind and what you can do about it

Why care innovation lags behind and what you can do about it

Everyone is there by now Convinced that earthearth-driven care, also known as Triple Aim or Value Based Healthcare (VBHC), is the future of healthcare.

Called Value Based Healthcare (VBHC), the future of healthcare is. Yet many people struggle with How they can realize value-driven care within their organization or care network. There are many small projects get off the ground, but real healthcare innovation with demonstrable results remains out. In fact, on balance, these (technological) care innovations the cost of care will only increase. In this blog we list the barriers to successful care innovation and let we see what there is necessary to wél to a successfulle approach successfully come.

What is care innovation?

Care innovation is trendy and is often equated with the application of technology in healthcare. Unjustified, as the WHO’s definition of care innovation shows. WHO: ‘Zorginnovation is the development of new policies, new products, services, technologies and/or organisational models, that improve the health of people’. Zorginnovation is therefore vmuch more than just a fun technological tool en it also have a demonstrable result.

Why is care innovation so difficult?

Approximately 70 to 80% of healthcare innovations is doomed to failure. Why is it so difficult to implement care innovation in practice?

1. Short-term thinking

Executives and directors in health care Prefer not to support innovations that have no meaningful economic or clinical impact in the short term. Even if it turns out that there are long-term gains to be made, often such investments. In this respect, people tend see figure 1.

Figure 1: Care innovation complex or simple?

2. Fragmented legislation and regulation

The Dutch healthcare system is complex and the whe rules and regulations is fragmented. This makes it difficult to caregetting innovations funded. For successfulle implementation of innovations,,, must your be able through the forest of legislation and regulations navigate and future changes assess. It’s not easy. In addition the complexity fraud and inefficiency.

3. Who is the customer?

Unlike most other industries, therelationship between who buys, who pays who pays and who benefits, unclear in healthcare. Klantcustomers – those who buy a product or service – can be patientscan be patients, referring physicians, hospitals, health insurance companies, etc. (see figure 2). There are various markets which influence each other and are also subject to regulation by the government. This complex situation stands in the way of pure market forces.

Figure 2: Regulated market forces

4. No proof of concept

Many healthcare innovations have no demonstrable added value. In the past you could often get away with it, but tnowadays
proof of concept
increasingly important. Hhow do you know what you’re doing will pay off? There are models innovations in health care can be measured. The problem is however that they focus mainly focus on the characteristics of successful innovations in the past. None of these models are suitable for measuring potential success.

5. Innovation for non-existent problems

Boards of directors of healthcare organizations have an important role in promoting innovation. But It is not always the case that directors have experience in the healthcare sector. Because of this they are regular unfamiliar with the underlying market factors and specialized technologies that often underlie healthcare innovation. Ignorance and conservatism inhibit progress. Also lesses from other sectors are only moderately applied. Drivers get to work with eHealth applications for non-existing problems or trying to fit a new technology into a work process that does not meet today’s requirements.

6. Bad experiences

Every healthcare innovation comes with a risk. And every manager of a healthcare institution has experience of failed healthcare innovation projects. After all, 70-80% of innovations do not lead to the desired result. These bad experiences lead drivers to inclined be view an innovation proposal sceptically and to choose ‘the safe way’: not to innovate.

7. Implementation incompetence

In the Netherlands we are very good at coming up with new ideas, but we cannot implement them. We always get bogged down in endless talk about how things should be. A clear implementation strategy is in many cases not a superfluous luxury, see figure 3.

Figure 3: Implementation science

 

Four keys to successful care innovation

Fortunately, there is hope! By tackling a number of issues differently and carry outwe can through care innovation we can improve the quality of care, while halting the rise in healthcare of healthcare costs. Care innovations abroad prove this. How are we supposed to then to do?

1. Knowledge of healthcare and business

The first solution lies in an overarching way of thinking. Bwithin the current health care system there is there’s a club of people who believes in digital innovation and a club who reasoning from a policy perspective. Dthose two understand each other, leaving it to fester in the margins. What is needed is another club capable of looking at the big picture. People who understand care and business. That combination is essential, because value-driven care is not one or the other, it is about quality (care) éand costs (business).

2. Business model innovation as a solution

Secondly, the large-scale application of business model innovation a must. In the Netherlands dit is still an understudy; bus lies the focus even especially on product and process innovation. In foreign countries however business model innovation. What the difference is between product, process and business model innovation is, we’ll lay from on the basis of the provision of care for patients with type 2 diabetes.

Product innovation includes the development of eHealth applications. For diabetes type 2 is that for example the glucose box that is placed under the skin is placed under the skin, measuring blood sugars and insulin dosed.

Process innovation ensures that the glucose box is linked to the healthcare provider’s data system. It can remotely monitor the patient’s glucose levels and monitor and intervene if necessary.

Business model innovation covers the entire care package for patients with type 2 diabetes in a particular region. The all possible productand and processessen together and combines that with a business and earnings model. Contractual agreements are made with the health insurer about the reimbursement of the total package on the basis of quality agreements.

Research shows that business model innovation provides the highest return in terms of quality and cost. This is also shown by ffigure 4which shows that business model innovation has the highest success rate for real innovation. An example is Kaiser Permanente, an American non-profit careorganisation that applies business model innovation in a very successful way. The organisation includes 37 hospitals and 611 medical practices in nine states. It employs about 165,000 people and some 9 million Americans are members of the organization’s group health insurance plan. The focus of care is on prevention, because prevention is better and cheaper than cure. The doctors are responsible for the medical decisions and er is found continuous adjustments are made to ensure that the care is as effective and efficient as possible.

Figure 4: Type of care innovation

 

3. Searching for a combination of earning models

Do you want healthcare innovations successful If you want to implement this, you have to make use of earning models. Wworldwide there are about 55 business models in circulationbut in the Dutch health care system there will be only used four: subscriptions, payment per transaction, DBC/DOTS and shared savings. This stands in the way of business model innovation. Innovations in other industries show that success is related to combining multiple revenue models. Dthat durve is a hallmark of entrepreneurship and we have care need forof course in combination with farstooth of the contents.

4. Regulation without overregulation

Last but not least oalso the government in a different way , if we’re going to have together affordable. Roughly speaking Here two ways for: deregulation and regulation. In health care, there is now complete deregulation à la Uber. You reap what you sow. Of course there are rules, but hIt’s a jumble.. All too often, small grant funds are opened for haphazard initiatives. The totallack of overview and fragmentation and costsincrease are the result of this. What is needed is regulation à la the energy transition. That the government determines wbut we together to go to and what business, earning and financing models we atput to dihe goals set. Take Kaiser Permanente as an example. Dissect their process, extract the usable components and copy that to our local context. For care entrepreneurs, this is really the gap in the market. And for all of us, the way to maintain access to good, affordable care.

Learn more about the successful implementation of healthcare innovation? Download the eBook Value-based Healthcare that work