In the News

By Betsy Taylor | As health care costs have risen in recent decades, workplace wellness programs have gained traction. Health care systems with lots of experience under their belts running workplace wellness programs succeed by tailoring their programs to meet employer and employee needs. New ventures, like the creation of a spin-off from Franciscan Missionaries…

By George Hampton | “Articulate, intelligent individuals can skillfully construct a convincing case to argue almost any point of view. This critical, reactive use of intelligence narrows our vision. In contrast, projective thinking is expansive, ‘open-ended’ and speculative, requiring the thinker to create the context, concepts, and the objectives” – Linda Stone. Feb 6, 2011.…

Innovation in health care takes longer and costs more than some investors are willing to take on. And beyond regulatory hurdles, health care institutions are cautious when considering new products and services, leading to slower adoption rates than in other industries. In response to these hurdles, The Innovation Institute in La Palma, Calif., was founded in…

Pioneers of Technology Platforms to Help Innovation Lab Galvanize Breakthroughs in Health Care Norwalk-based Xerox Corp. and its PARC subsidiary have joined in a partnership with Innovation Lab, an Innovation Institute company, to collaborate on exploring medical technology, engineering and robotics solutions to improve the quality of health care. The Innovation Institute, of La Palma,…

The innovative BayWin valve allows for deep suctioning of mechanically ventilated patients without the risks associated with breaking the closed circuit. There are approximately 1.65 million Intensive Care Unit patients who are mechanically ventilated in the U.S. each year. In addition, mechanically ventilated patients are found in long-term acute care (LTAC) facilities, extended care and…

By Jeff Niederhausen | I have been asked many times through the years, “How did you go from biomed to finance?” The truth of the matter is, I never was in biomed or had any training in it. I have always been in finance and accounting. I am someone who happened to stumble upon a…

Tech Knowledge Associates (TKA) was formed in 2012 when St. Joseph Health System (Southern California, Northern California and Texas) decided to spin the Clinical Engineering program out into a commercial enterprise called The Innovation Institute. Since its beginnings, TKA has achieved success by positioning itself to provide highly cost-effective CE/HTM services for members of The…

Innovation Institute Named as Most Successful Partnership Hospitals and health systems are constantly forming partnerships and aligning with other organizations to optimize care and reduce costs. Here, 13 hospital and health system executives discuss some of their most successful partnerships. Matt Gerlach. COO of Children’s Hospital of Orange (Calif.) County: “Innovation is a big part…

By George Hampton | There are two unmovable forces in our industry: Regulatory Compliance and Financial Performance. They stand as individual elements in your program’s portfolio, regardless of your attention. In my organization, we work hard to educate and encourage our leaders to understand both concerns and find the agility to move between the two…

The Innovation Institute CEO Named as Leading Innovator Health Data Management is the information resource for medical and IT professionals, executives and administrators who are leading the transformation now sweeping the healthcare industry. A number of HIT executives, policy makers and industry innovators are leading the digital disruption of healthcare. In the following list, Health…

By Larry Stofko | Even with all the advances in patient care, medical error continues to take lives at 1,000 per day in the United States (Leapfrog – Spring 2017 Report). So what are we doing to reduce these numbers? The answer: Individuals and organizations like The Innovation Institute, who want to have a positive…

By Jeff Niederhausen | Budgeting is a key part to any business. Whether you participate in your department’s budget building or not, it is important to know about its limitations and opportunities existing within it. Budgets are a part of everyone’s life, no matter how you look at it. Maybe you don’t track your spending…

Petra ICS Shares Expertise in Medical Flooring  By Dawn Fredrick-Seibert | The intended use of a healthcare space defines the type of flooring selected, and many factors must be considered. Attention to factors that make sustainable environments conducive to safety, cleanliness, wellness and healing have created the best results. These factors include the selection of…

Summer 2017 Dramatic healthcare breakthroughs require innovative project managers. By any measure, the healthcare industry is on the brink of unprecedented challenges, even in the face of medical and technological breakthroughs that offer exciting and hopeful new treatment options. Consider the sweeping changes implemented by the Affordable Care Act that current political turmoil seeks to…

By Joe Randolph | Adelaide, or Addie, will be born in August 2017. When she arrives, she will face a future much different than her grandfather did when he was born in the late 1950’s. Addie will have an expected lifespan that is about 20-25 years longer than her grandfather because of advances in healthcare. A…

By George Hampton | What will become of this place if I leave? That’s a good question! Have you contemplated this question? Every leader should. It may seem odd thinking about your own replacement, maybe even threatening. I would suggest that you look at this idea from the standpoint of your own success. Every good…

The Innovation Institute, a California firm that invests in and helps grow cutting-edge companies in the healthcare sector, has acquired Franciscan Health and Wellness Services, a health solutions and wellness company that was founded and owned by Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System. Terms of the acquisition, which closed earlier this month, were not…

La Palma Facility Further Diversifies Innovation Institute LLC named Christina Waters executive-in-residence at its lab-incubator-accelerator in an effort to begin genomic medicine work. The for-profit group in La Palma looks for ways to advance healthcare industry practices. It’s co-owned by five nonprofit hospitals and systems, which locally include St. Joseph Hoag Health in Irvine and…

Innovation Institute LLC in La Palma added two firms to buttress its work in executive search and workforce management. The for-profit institute is owned by five nonprofit health systems and hospitals, including Providence St. Joseph Health in Irvine and Children’s Hospital in Orange County in Orange.  

by Jun Gang | When I think about innovation within strict regulations in construction and design requirements, I think about how pressure, restrictions and even episodic moments in time have caused great innovation to happen. If you look back at World War II, for example, the country turned to innovation to address major challenges, resulting…

By Ernest Oates and Jeff Niederhausen | One of the biggest things we have been hearing about in our industry centers around the Alternate Equipment Maintenance (AEM) program. For many facilities, this program can be a struggle to build. Trying to figure out where to start is even worse. In our program, we have tackled…

By Joe Randolph | Augmented reality (AR) is gaining traction in health care by providing us with another dimension to our physical world, and allowing us to see a digital layer of text or images to enhance what we experience in the real world. As an example, AR can provide surgeons with 3-D reconstructions of…

By George Hampton | At the risk of sounding like “Captain Obvious,” the health care industry as a whole is struggling financially. Everyone is being called to task for savings and clinical technology programs are certainly no exception. Perhaps your program has flown under the “cost cutting” radar in the past. I know that many…

By Larry Stofko | Today, we are seeing the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare as it helps us integrate disparate data types to answer complex questions that were previously unknown. According to the recent PwC Health Research Institute’s annual report, emerging technologies, including AI, are being deployed in healthcare and have great potential…

  By Joe Randolph  | The Innovation Institute, a national healthcare technology incubator, works with physicians and clinicians to advance innovation by solving problems on the front line. We are hopeful that the solutions focused on sepsis will make it into the mainstream of patient care one day soon to help eradicate this leading cause…

Reton, Wash.-based Providence St. Joseph Health’s California arm, St. Joseph Health, has its own take on technology, and its Southern California division, St. Joseph Hoag Health, will gradually incorporate the technologies that St. Joseph Health implements. “If you look at St. Joseph [Health] within the acute or ambulatory space, we are actively providing care to…

By Joe Randolph | As we reflect on 2016 and move full speed into 2017, I am hopeful that the physician inventors we are working with through The Innovation Institute, a national health care technology incubator, will get closer to beating sepsis, the leading cause of preventable death in developed and developing countries around the world.…

By Mark E. Elzik, MD | “Doctor, I have carpal tunnel syndrome. Can you help me?” “Sure, of course. What symptoms have you been having?” “Well, my hand and wrist hurt a lot. And I work on a computer all day long.” “Hmmm. I see. It sounds like you definitely have some issues, but your…

Office Furniture Group has joined The Innovation Institute as one of its healthcare service company subsidiaries. According to OFG President Scott Lazarus, OFG represents over 250 manufacturers and, as a Platinum Teknion dealer, has the necessary tools, resources and talents to conquer any project on a local, national and international level. More…

By Jeff Niederhausen | Whether you are a technician or in management, keeping the financial bottom line in mind in everyday business is an important part of creating a superior or great biomedical program. It doesn’t make a difference if you are an in-house group or working for a third-party vendor. In today’s health care…