Innovation is more than just an epiphany. And it’s more than the shiny new invention. It’s not really innovation unless you manage to get your newly created phenomenon to return value to your organization. An understood way to deliver value is the minimum requirement for innovation. Today I speak with Mike Rea from IDEA Pharma about enabling pharmaceutical innovation.

I never thought I’d say this, but I wish there was an acronym for providers who have become payer/providers. Such a mouthful. Today I speak with Kris Smith, who is, amongst his other work over at Northwell Health, the Chief Medical Officer of CareConnect. CareConnect is Northwell Health’s foray into the payer/provider space, and they’ve learned some lessons over the past four years which I discuss with Kris today.

Whoever would have predicted that healthcare analytics would be sexy? Maybe not sexy, but at least a topic that everybody loves to talk about. Predictive analytics, prescriptive analytics, efficacy, outcomes, value assessments. But here’s the thing – every analysis is desperately dependent on one ponderous gorilla in the room. The quality and accuracy of the data. No good data, no good analytics. End of story. Today I speak with Eric Rosow, CEO of Diameter Health.

Here’s a pitfall I’ve seen organizations fall into more than once – spending a lot of money on innovation and having nothing, or nothing of value to show for it. Either it’s an extreme paralysis by analysis situation or, there are actually demonstration projects accomplished, but the results have nothing to do with organizational imperatives or KPIs. In other words, innovation and strategy are two space ships passing in a skyline of the future with low visibility.

First John and I dissect the why of why EHR systems haven’t managed to do what we need them to do to improve patient care. Then we get into a more uptempo confab about critical success factors moving forward. What are the must-haves for innovation to enable a better kind of healthcare future?