Responsible innovation in health and health system sustainability: Insights from health innovators’ views and practices

Abstract

Although healthcare managers make increasingly difficult decisions about health innovations, the way they may interact with innovators to foster health system sustainability remains underexplored. Drawing on the Responsible Innovation in Health (RIH) framework, this paper analyses interviews ( n=37) with Canadian and Brazilian innovators to identify: how they operationalize inclusive design processes; what influences the responsiveness of their innovation to system-level challenges; and how they consider the level and intensity of care required by their innovation. Our qualitative findings indicate that innovators seek to: 1) engage stakeholders at an early ideation stage through context-specific methods combining both formal and informal strategies; 2) address specific system-level benefits but often struggle with the positioning of their solution within the health system; and 3) mitigate staff shortages in specialized care, increase general practitioners’ capacity or patients and informal caregivers’ autonomy. These findings provide empirical insights on how healthcare managers can promote and organize collaborative processes that harness innovation towards more sustainable health systems. By adopting a RIH-oriented managerial role, they can set in place more inclusive design processes, articulate key system-level challenges, and help innovators adjust the level and intensity of care required by their innovation.

The state of the art of innovation management: insights from a retrospective review of the European Journal of Innovation Management

“…Innovation research has never been confined to any single discipline, signaling the relevance of innovation across disciplines-for example, agriculture and food science (Grimsby, 2021), business management (Teece, 2010;Urbinati et al, 2022a, b), environmental science (Kashan et al, 2022) and healthcare (Lehoux et al, 2021), among others. The diversity of the innovation literature may be attributed to the nature of innovation itself as a complex, multidimensional phenomenon (Wolfe, 1994).…”

“…, 2022a, b), environmental science (Kashan et al. , 2022) and healthcare (Lehoux et al. , 2021), among others.…”

Early technology review: towards an expedited pathway

“…There is a need to improve the tools and methods to expedite the adoption of new technologies through meeting the evidentiary needs of regulators, health professionals, payers, and other stakeholders while simultaneously reducing the risk for investors by informing them of the extent to which the technology meets early expectations of these broader stakeholder groups. There is a desire by innovators to engage with healthcare managers early in the development of medical technologies to discuss responsiveness of their innovation to system-level challenges and how they consider the level and intensity of care required by their innovation (9).…”

Responsible coordination of municipal health and care services: Café dialogues as a method for responsible innovation

“…Meeting points for dialogues among service users and professionals can initiate innovation and improve healthcare services (18, [20][21][22]. Service users have valuable knowledge based on their experiences and possess insights into their needs, challenges, and potential improvement measures (22).…”

“…Meeting points for dialogues among service users and professionals can initiate innovation and improve healthcare services (18, [20][21][22]. Service users have valuable knowledge based on their experiences and possess insights into their needs, challenges, and potential improvement measures (22). Involving professionals can enhance their understanding of service users and improve interaction between service users and healthcare services (23).…”