Workforce

 As COVID-19 surges and supply lines become critical, health system leaders are working toward real-time visibility and predictive tools for inventory, pricing, lead times and demand trends.

There's an art to balancing new innovation while maintaining a high level of existing service. It requires a solid foundation of core systems, adherence to quality controls and an excellent service support model.

TGH InnoVentures will include an innovation lab and an accelerator program, and will directly invest in promising healthcare-focused startups.

The new initiative offers $100 million in network equipment and services for providers offering innovative telehealth and remote care services to low-income patients and veterans.

The Boston health system’s Digital Innovation Hub has spearheaded a new way to get all staff to contribute ideas. Many of those ideas are already in play and proving successful.

While "EHRs have known shortcomings," coordinated data initiatives and better interoperability can create a truly effective health IT infrastructure, say technology leaders from 15 academic medical centers.

The COVID-19 crisis has led to major leaps forward for telehealth, decision support and more, says Hal Wolf – but big work remains on interoperability, patient ID, social determinants and other building blocks of population health.  

Penn Medicine Chief Information Officer Mike Restuccia says strong leadership is needed to capitalize on technology's potential – but people are the real enablers.