“Ryan Vega, M.D., is a hospitalist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) where he serves as the executive director of the VHA Innovation Ecosystem in the Office of Discovery, Education and Affiliate Networks. He leads an effort called “VA Diffusion of Excellence.” Healthcare Innovation Senior Editor David Raths recently spoke with Dr. Vega about his team’s efforts to identify and scale up best practices across the VA.”
“Healthcare Innovation: How and why did the VA create a network of innovators across its medical centers?
Vega: Several years ago, a presidential innovation fellow named Andrea Ippolito saw the need to build better capacity in the field to manage innovation. She saw an opportunity to create what has become our Innovators Network. The premise was that there were VA sites that were doing amazing things, but the work needed to be managed strategically. We can do a better job of bringing ideas to fruition in a more structured process in terms of how we prototype and measure real-world impact and replicate and scale innovation. The network started with eight sites in 2016. Andrea identified and worked with innovation specialists — folks doing great work in their medical centers trying to advance innovation. She brought elements of human-centered design and entrepreneurship design thinking to the group…” Read the full article here.
Source: Scaling Up Best Practices Across the VA – By David Raths, May 24, 2019. Healthcare Innovation.
