Question

The Governing Body often looks to the Administrator to find innovations that will improve quality of care, quality of life and potentially the bottom line. Use the following link below and read the following posting from the Leading Age Website (the national trade association for not-for profit nursing homes)

https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/mrt8004/docs/why_comfort_matters.pdf

How Beatitudes Campus is Spreading Comfort in New York

Discuss how the Beatitudes Program is creating innovations that address quality of care, quality of life and improving the bottom-line

Answer 1

Ans) Health care—in the United States, certainly, but also in most other developed countries—is ailing and in need of help. Yes, medical treatment has made astonishing advances over the years. But the packaging and delivery of that treatment are often inefficient, ineffective, and consumer unfriendly.

The well-known problems range from medical errors, which by some accounts are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, to the soaring cost of health care. The amount spent now represents about one-sixth of the U.S. gross domestic product; it continues to grow much faster than the economy; and it threatens the economic future of the governments, businesses, and individuals called upon to foot the bill. Despite the outlay, more than 40 million people have no health insurance.

Such problems beg for innovative solutions involving every aspect of health care—its delivery to consumers, its technology, and its business models. Indeed, a great deal of money has been spent on the search for solutions. U.S. government spending on health care R&D, which came to $26 billion in 2003, is topped only by the government’s spending on defense R&D. Private-sector spending on health care R&D—in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, and health services—also runs into the tens of billions of dollars. According to one study of U.S. companies, only software spawns more new ventures receiving early-stage angel funding than the health field.

Despite this enormous investment in innovation and the magnitude of the opportunity for innovators to both do good and do well, all too many efforts fail, losing billions of investor dollars along the way. Some of the more conspicuous examples: the disastrous outcome of the managed care revolution, the $40 billion lost by investors to biotech ventures, and the collapse of numerous businesses aimed at bringing economies of scale to fragmented physician practices.

So why is innovation so unsuccessful in health care? To answer, we must break down the problem, looking at the different types of innovation and the forces that affect them, for good or ill. (See the sidebar “Six Forces That Can Drive Innovation—Or Kill It.”) This method of analysis, while applied here mainly to health care in the U.S., also offers a framework for understanding the health care problems of other developed economies—and for helping managers understand innovation challenges in any industry.

- Supporting from the top management down to nearly everyone else.
Beatitudes Campus is an organization that was founded in faith and is driven by leaders of innovation.The Beatitudes organization have historically embraced a strong sense of social justice. We are affiliated with the United Church of Christ, also called the Beatitudes Church, which supports social justice for all people.