“… The VHA Innovator’s Network ‘s (iNET’s ) objective is to identify, incubate, and to spread innovations throughout its organization; it’s one of the many developments that has come from the VHA’s Innovation program since its development in 2009. The VHA Innovation Ecosystem is a relatively new construct that has evolved through the combination of several small VA sites across the country. It’s working with a network of innovation specialists and private sector partners to identify the most promising innovations, fund them, and spread them to benefit veterans.”
“As opposed to many bureaucratic institutions, the Innovation Ecosystem is heavily driven by bottom-up initiatives and seeks to foster individuals (doctors, nurses, program managers) who are pursuing healthcare improvements that may help veterans. It allows employees to submit their ideas and receive funding to design, develop, test, and spread innovative concepts.”
“To find out more about iNET, we asked Dr. Ryan Vega, VA Diffusion of Excellence Lead at the VA Center for Innovation to explain how the program operates, what challenges it’s up against, and how it plans to foster the desire to create solutions to help the specific needs of U.S. veterans…” Read the full interview here.
Source: Q&A: How the VHA’s Innovator’s Network Is Transforming Veteran Care – By Erica Garvin, September 24, 2019. HIT Consultant.
