Best Practices for Innovative Care Models

Investing in healthcare innovation initiatives is essential to the future success of our industry but at what cost? We are constantly asking ourselves "what is the ROI?" especially for digital health projects with artificial intelligence. Here are several ways we, as hospital innovation executives, are seeing return on investment with AI projects: (1) Work collaboratively with a technology vendor who can serve as a partner in refining a product to meet specific goals. We did this with our operating room ambient intelligence project and we have seen a 15% increase in our OR capacity without adding new staff members. (2) Implement change management procedures alongside new technology. When we first launched our virtual nursing program, the bedside nurses were skeptical because they thought their jobs were at risk. Within 10 days, every bedside nurse was asking for a virtual nurse to assist with admissions & discharges because it reduced their time spent on documentation activities and allowed them to better personalize care for their patients. We have since improved our admissions & discharge process leading to better patient & staff satisfaction, eliminated all contract nursing positions, and have added a fresh set of eyes on the patient floors where we have seen great catches in discrepancies. (3) Use AI responsibly with a human in the loop. One of our main goals with using AI technology is to lessen the burden of data mining and documentation for our clinicians. Our predictive analytics tools work in tandem with clinical teams to highlight the most important information in the EHR, saving them from having to dig into the patient's notes and extensive medical history. We have seen that the AI tools we use are 75% more accurate at projecting a patient's discharge date and can identify the highest risk patients who make up 80% of our adverse events so that we can better align the use of our clinicians' time. 👇 Read this Becker's Healthcare article quoting multiple health system leaders across the country sharing their top ROI on AI projects. https://lnkd.in/g9PqcbSq

After 15 years building healthcare technology and leading care transformation, I've learned that most digital health implementations fail because they focus on technology instead of workflow. Here's what I share with executives who reach out: The 3 workflow principles that made our virtual care model work: 1/ Integration beats innovation every time ↳ The best tool that no one uses is worthless ↳ Build into existing workflows, don't replace them ↳ Training time is always underestimated 2/ Start with provider pain points, not patient features ↳ If it doesn't save clinicians time, it won't get adopted ↳ Documentation burden is the real enemy ↳ Solve workflow friction first, outcomes follow 3/ Measure what matters to sustainability ↳ Patient satisfaction without provider efficiency fails ↳ Cost reduction without quality improvement backfires ↳ Technology adoption without clinical integration dies From my experience leading teams at BrainCheck, MedFlow, and building Frontier Psychiatry from startup to 75 staff, the pattern is consistent: Successful healthcare transformation happens when you solve real operational problems, not when you chase the latest technology trends. If you're a healthcare leader planning digital transformation or struggling with virtual care implementation: 📧 Send me a DM with "WORKFLOW" to see how MedFlow can automate your revenue generating workflows. Already implementing quality care? Comment below what your biggest operational challenge has been. I read and respond to every one. 👉 Follow me (Reza Hosseini Ghomi, MD, MSE) for practical healthcare transformation insights

The healthcare landscape is filled with brilliant insights and promising pilots that never scale. As human-centered designers, we excel at uncovering needs and creating compelling solutions—yet implementation remains our greatest challenge. Transforming promising pilots into widespread practices represents a profound opportunity to shape healthcare's future. When innovative approaches successfully scale, they create ripple effects—enhancing patient experiences, improving outcomes, and often reducing burden on care teams. Our opportunity lies in developing implementation approaches as thoughtful as our initial designs. Institutional inertia often presents the first major hurdle. Overcome this by starting with targeted 8-week interventions that demonstrate immediate value. Identify informal leaders who shape culture—the veteran nurse or respected physician whose opinions influence others. Create visual artifacts that make pain points undeniable and build emotional connection to the need for change. Regulatory concerns require thoughtful navigation. Invite compliance partners into design sessions from day one, giving them ownership in finding solutions. Distinguish between actual requirements and accumulated practices—you'll often find more flexibility than assumed. Consider modular implementation where less-regulated components can advance first. Address the human element of implementation. Design changes that reduce workload in visible ways—for every new step added, eliminate two. Create a "change budget" that acknowledges the cognitive costs and limits concurrent initiatives. Develop frontline champions who receive dedicated time for implementation support. For measurement challenges, create simple dashboards that include both traditional and experience measures. Develop visual data stories showing impact through multiple perspectives to build a compelling case. Establish 30-day feedback cycles where users shape refinements. When moving from pilot to scale, build solutions with a stable core and flexible edges that adapt to different contexts. Document "implementation recipes" with specific steps and resource requirements. Connect implementation teams across sites to share adaptations and solutions. By addressing these barriers with practical strategies, we can accelerate human-centered innovation in healthcare—moving from isolated bright spots to transformative change at scale.