St. Louis-based Ascension this week announced its new Clinical Innovation Institute, designed as a center of excellence devoted to vetting emerging technologies and harnessing that innovation for enterprise-wide growth, quality improvement and improved patient and provider experience.
WHY IT MATTERS
The institute, known as CII, will enable a devoted team of in-house clinical leaders to assess, test and implement new IT tools across Ascension's 142-hospital footprint and 2,600 other clinical care sites in 14 states.
With the aim of encouraging an array of new innovation efforts to drive better outcomes for patients while supporting its workforce, the new center will be directed by four Ascension leaders: Chief Clinical Transformation Officer Dr. Mitesh Patel, Chief Medical Information Officer Dr. Samit Desai, Chief Academic Officer Dr. Fred Masoudi and AVP of Clinical Innovation Jon Taves.
Their research will focus on facilitating access to the latest clinical trials and using insights gained from clinical data to further advance care, according to leadership at Ascension, the nation's largest non-profit and Catholic health system.
"One of Ascension's core values is creativity, defined as courageous innovation," said Dr. Thomas Aloia, the health system's chief clinical officer, in a statement. "Innovation is how we create a better care experience for all – for our patients, caregivers, associates and the communities we serve. The work of the CII is a direct result of Ascension's culture that elevates safety and quality while being a catalyst for growth through innovation."
Through CII, Ascension is focused on implementing new tools that will be applied in a secure environment to reduce digital and administrative burden while enhancing the care of patients, officials say.
THE LARGER TREND
Ascension has been pursuing technological innovation on a number of fronts over the past decade, such as partnering with a tech accelerator to start a pipeline of early-stage innovators.
As artificial intelligence has come to the fore in healthcare, Ascension – whose technology journey has not been without challenge in recent years – has been on the forefront. It was named as one of the top hospital systems for AI readiness by CB Insights in July 20224.
ON THE RECORD
"At Ascension, patient care and access are central to our mission. That's why our clinical transformation team is dedicated to bringing together clinical expertise with digital innovation," said Patel, in a statement. "True clinical innovation goes beyond incremental technology upgrades – it requires a fundamental reimagining of how we deliver holistic, patient-centered care."
"It is crucial that all innovation efforts across our system are thoughtfully created and organized to align with workflows and the clinician experience in mind," added Desai. "With the launch of the CII, Ascension will leverage cutting-edge and secure technologies to streamline workflows for our clinicians to provide more effective care."
Mike Miliard is executive editor of Healthcare IT News
Email the writer: mmiliard@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.
