Transformational Development Evolves to
Meet Changing Needs

Innovation and transformation occur throughout Ascension Health, but nowhere is it more focused and intentional than among the team known as Transformational Development. TD functions as Ascension Health's future-focused innovation agent, and is called to accelerate the achievement of the Strategic Direction. TD seeks to anticipate emerging healthcare trends, challenge the status quo, and identify, develop and explore innovative, sustainable approaches to solve widespread healthcare problems.

This year marked a period of change for TD as it evolved its structure and how it organizes its work to maximize impact on the transformation of healthcare and to support achievement of Ascension Health's refined Strategic Direction. Key enhancements included:

• Defining a next-generation agenda aligned with Ascension Health's refined Strategic Direction that recognizes the need for shorter development time and rapid-cycle experimentation, and creating an organizing framework to better organize the projects of the TD team;
• Restructuring scanning and networking activities; and
• Considering alternative approaches for prototyping and piloting initiatives.

TD's agenda, developed with strategy leaders at the System and Health Ministries, was initiated through the identification of a set of platforms that will serve to focus the work of Transformational Development, along with infrastructure elements required to support the platforms. Initiatives within the next generation agenda are tied to one or more of these platforms:

Care Anywhere – to bring Ascension Health's holistic, reverent care and support capabilities to individuals in a person-centered approach – when, where and how people need them to meet their needs.

Early Life Intervention – to develop approaches and programs to better educate and activate children in focused areas, including health and nutrition, to impact alarming health trends.

Innovations in Community Health & Access – to engage Ascension Health Ministries and communities in ongoing innovative efforts to address social determinants of health and support improvements in community health status.

Population-Based & Chronic Care – to develop innovative, person-centered models that improve adherence and health status, reduce healthcare costs, and enhance the experience for people and caregivers.

Senior Care – Quality of Life – to position Ascension Health as a premier, trusted partner for the health and well-being needs of older adults through innovative, interdisciplinary, integrated models of relevant care and services designed specifically for seniors.

Transformation at the Core – to identify innovative approaches and care models for Ascension Health's acute care facilities that improve the quality of care while significantly reducing infrastructure and/or care delivery costs.

In the area of scanning and networking, TD created a new approach with a comprehensive perspective, accountable resources and clearer expectations based on the following areas of focus:

• Tapping Into the Ascension Health Community: taking advantage of the existing community of associates, physicians and patients to foster rapid-cycle experimentation and effective sharing of lessons learned and best practices
• Open Innovation: partnering with other organizations to support open-innovation engagement and leading targeted open-innovation research efforts
• Targeted Industry Group Engagement: continuing to engage with a limited number of industry groups that are either participating in driving key healthcare innovations or are at the focal point of innovative thinking and networks
• Electronic and Process Net: developing an electronic and process "net" to provide an efficient collection point for emerging or existing innovative ideas, technologies and care models

An additional tool developed this year to support TD's work in rapid-cycle testing of solutions and technologies is the TD Living Lab. The objective of the Living Lab is to accelerate the development of innovative capabilities in healthcare as well as making Ascension Health the "go to" organization for developers and thought leaders. The Living Lab will provide the connection point with innovative product/service developers to assist them to gain rapid feedback from a health-informed community with the intent to accelerate their development cycle and reduce development cost.

Once the full Living Lab infrastructure is in place, voluntary participation in product and service testing activities will be opened to the broad Ascension Health community. The Living Lab is an initial strategy by TD to build a community of innovative thinkers across Ascension Health to assist in transformative idea generation and evaluation.

Meanwhile, progress continued on several projects designed to accelerate achievement of the refined Strategic Direction.