Say you’re a provider, an insurance carrier, a pharma company … and you’ve realized that you need to innovate to reduce costs and deliver better care. Or hedge against an upstart showing up on the scene and disrupting your good thing. Or ensure that your risk-based contracts go well. It’s one thing to cerebrally decide to be innovative and another thing to get your organization to actually do innovation and, arguably just as importantly, cross the “o-gap” or the “operationalization gap,” as my guest today, Naomi Fried, puts it. Naomi is the CEO of Health Innovation Strategies, which she founded after a storied career with innovative greats such as Kaiser Permanente, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Biogen.
You can learn more at healthinnovationstrategies.com.
Naomi Fried, PhD, is an innovative and digital health thought leader and founder and CEO of the boutique advisory firm, Health Innovation Strategies, which focuses on innovation program design and digital health strategy. Naomi was the first vice president of innovation and external partnerships at Biogen, the first chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, and vice president of innovation and advanced technology at Kaiser Permanente. She served on the board of directors of the American Telemedicine Association and the Governor of Massachusetts’ Innovation Council.
01:34 A typical life cycle of an innovation department.
02:18 “What’s really important for a successful innovation program is to have a clear focus on why you’re innovating.”
03:49 Building infrastructure from ideas and goals.
04:36 “It typically takes innovation programs … 3 to 5 years to really get off the ground and start firing on all cylinders.”
05:19 “Quick wins … are those really the right wins?”
05:51 “Quick failure is actually a very important part for a pilot.”
08:14 The different kinds of quick wins.
08:54 “How do you scale up a great idea?”
09:09 The o-gap, or operationalization gap.
10:15 Anticipating the o-gap.
12:22 How this process has operationalized itself.
14:50 “Innovation, by definition, is incredibly collaborative.”
16:06 “People will ignore innovation if it isn’t properly championed.”
18:22 “What’s important is that there always be innovation leadership.”
19:40 What provider organizations should be thinking about right now.
21:24 What payers are thinking about in general.
24:12 Disruptive innovation vs small-scale innovation.
24:49 Pharma innovation on the horizon.
25:06 What digital health has to offer Pharma.
27:37 Naomi’s advice to digital health companies.