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Five lessons on innovation from Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals

Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the approach to fostering internal and external innovation is deliberate, thought out, and informed by years of experience. At HXD 2018 in Cambridge yesterday, Julia Jackson, managing director of Massachusetts General’s Healthcare Transformation Lab and Josie Elias, program manager for Brigham’s Digital Health Innovation Guide, broke down some of the most important lessons they’ve learned.

At PULSE@MassChallenge Finale, Medumo announces strategic collaboration with Partners HealthCare to scale digital care navigation pathways

Medumo, a leading patient navigation platform, announced a new strategic collaboration with Partners HealthCare at the second annual PULSE@MassChallenge Finale. This relationship will scale Medumo digital care navigation pathways (CareTours™) in care access, patient encounter preparation and follow-up, and many other clinical or administrative areas across Partners institutions. Medumo CareTours™ use multilingual SMS, email, and web-based applications to automate delivery of precisely timed instructions and patient risk assessment through every stage of a care encounter, improving clinical outcomes and operational efficiency.

A Nurse’s Innovation: “Virtual Monitoring” Increases Access, Decreases Travel

A nurse practitioner in the department of radiation oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boyajian manages the monitoring visits required for men who have been treated for prostate cancer. The good news for these patients is the high success rates for men who receive treatment. But they must follow-up regularly with blood tests to check for early signs of recurrence and with physician visits to report any symptoms.

Reversing the Tide of the Opioid Crisis

BWH clinicians and researchers across departments and divisions are working to find new ways to stem the tide of opioid addiction and opioid-related deaths. Brian Mullen, PhD, of the Brigham Digital Innovation Hub (iHub), and Scott Weiner, MD, MPH, of the Department of Emergency Medicine and director of the Brigham Comprehensive Opioid Response and Education (B-CORE) Program, are working to bring innovators together to share ideas and resources. They have collected information on more than a dozen BWH projects so far.

Look Who’s Talking: Which Female Innovator Inspires You?

“Angela Ahrendts, senior vice president of Retail at Apple, inspires me because of her innovative spirit, ability to execute on bold, forward visions, while also exemplifying the core values of humility and compassion. Quickly rising to the top of the fashion industry, she helped transform Burberry into an iconic, global brand. Now, Angela leads the evolution of Apple’s retail experience for the next generation, leveraging technology and innovation to marry the physical and digital realms.” 

Endoscopy Center Sees Success with Text Message Reminder System

With funding from the Brigham Care Redesign Incubator Startup Program (BCRISP) and additional support from the Brigham Digital Innovation Hub (iHub), a multidisciplinary team has been using a texting tool, developed by a company called Medumo, to provide patients with a digital colonoscopy prep guide in advance of their procedure.

Digital Tool Helps Patients, Staff Find Their Way

For about two years now, an interdisciplinary team at BWH has been working diligently to build and test the online navigation tool. Josie Elias, MBA, MPH, program manager for Digital Health Initiatives at the Brigham Digital Innovation Hub (iHub), who has led the project since its inception, said she’s proud of what the teams have accomplished and hopes people find the tool to be useful.

Leaders of Innovation: Chen Cao of Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Last week, we kicked off our “Leaders in Innovation” blog series with a spotlight on Roy Rosin of PennMedicine. The goal of this series is to hear from the actual people driving the adoption of innovative technologies in healthcare—and learn about the initiatives they’re most excited about in 2018.   

This week, Innovation Analyst Chen Cao of Brigham and Women’s Hospital discusses how their innovation department (iHub) focused on building a culture of collaboration in 2017, and what pain points they’re looking to address in the new year.  

Brigham Mobile Research Platform Offers Tools for the Digital Age

“As iHub was working with clinicians and the research community, we started to hear requests from folks saying they wanted to use a mobile app to do some research with their patients,” said Josie Elias, program manager, Digital Health Innovation at iHub. “They wanted a platform that would give them both security and flexibility. We wanted to help them innovate. Together, we created a platform that would offer them the basic tools and standard functions needed to create and launch an app tailored to their study’s needs.”

Cleaner Restrooms with the Push of a Button

Amazon’s Dash Buttons have made it easier than ever for its customers to instantly order items that need frequent replenishment, all with the push of a button. A pilot project at the Brigham has adapted the same technology to deliver that convenience and innovation in a health care environment, starting in an unexpected place: the hospital’s public restrooms.