How has a health system with a 323-bed hospital and a three-person innovation team built connections with more than 100 startups around the globe and attracted a Johnson & Johnson innovation lab to collocate on its campus? And how does it simultaneously challenge its own academic faculty to tackle the quandary of pediatric device innovation?

A small piece of plastic that Centura Health has rolled out to all of its Colorado hospitals is expected to not only make the patient experience better but improve the safety of patients and staff. The PIVO is a device manufactured by San Francisco-based Velano Vascular. It’s a needle-free, single-use device that connects to a patient’s intravenous line.

Todd Dunn is the director of innovation for Intermountain Healthcare and leader of the Healthcare Transformation Lab, where he oversees the Salt Lake City-based system's wide variety of new and ongoing innovation projects. One such innovation — and one that will "continue to excite [Mr. Dunn] for a very long time" — is a collaboration with Velano Vascular, an early-stage company developing needle-free blood draws. Since launching the partnership in April, Intermountain has performed more than 400,000 needle-free blood draws and received countless notes of gratitude from patients, parents and phlebotomists.

By Alan Manning & Eric M. Stone | February 7, 2019 Congratulations, you’ve cracked the code on patient-centric innovation and experience. Your patients have never been happier or expressed greater levels of satisfaction with your healthcare delivery. From room amenities to online cost estimates to mobile scheduling using the latest newfangled apps, they are pleased as punch. But now that the pleasantries are behind us, let’s get serious. How do [...]

By Alan Manning & Eric M. Stone | February 7, 2019 Congratulations, you’ve cracked the code on patient-centric innovation and experience. Your patients have never been happier or expressed greater levels of satisfaction with your healthcare delivery. From room amenities to online cost estimates to mobile scheduling using the latest newfangled apps, they are pleased as punch. But now that the pleasantries are behind us, let’s get serious. How do [...]

Written by Kolaleh Eskandanian | January 10, 2017 An Opportunity to Move the Dial on Patient Satisfaction in a Common Procedure Pediatric medicine is more often than not a "calling" --- the result of a personal commitment to reduce suffering in our children. This mission-oriented sense of purpose exists at odds with the economic realities of the industry. Pediatric hospital units are at a disadvantage when it comes to realizing [...]

Fifteen years ago, the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act was enacted to protect healthcare workers across the U.S. from preventable needlestick injuries and exposure to bloodborne pathogens. Additional laws and industry efforts in the interceding years have helped curb workplace risks for healthcare employees. However, despite this initial progress, the momentum behind doing the right thing for our caregivers has slowed considerably in recent years. By Karen Daley, RN, [...]

Delivering higher quality, more compassionate healthcare at lower cost is a seminal challenge in healthcare today. While healthcare organizations around the country are implementing complex processes and technologies in attempts to achieve this often elusive goal, tremendous potential exists in "innovating around the obvious".   By Steve Behm & Todd Dunn, Becker's Hospital Review  | February 10, 2016   Delivering higher quality, more compassionate healthcare at lower cost is a [...]