The Innovation Accelerator Program (formerly the Innovation Grant Program) was designed to support thought leaders from across the University of Pennsylvania Health System in their efforts to develop, test, and implement new approaches to dramatically improve health care delivery and patient outcomes.
The eight teams below make up our third cohort of projects. They were selected from a record pool of more than 85 proposals to participate in the program.
Over the next four months, the winning teams will learn high impact innovation methods for refining and rapidly validating solutions, and work closely with mentors from the Center to test and develop their concepts.
In March, the program will culminate with a pitch session where teams will present their learnings for the opportunity to receive additional investment to take their ideas to scale.
Learn more about the winners below and stay up to date with their progress by subscribing to our blog.
Partners
The Innovation Accelerator Program would not be possible without the support of our many partners. Each year, colleagues from departments across the University of Pennsylvania Health System provide access and expert advice critical to the success of our teams.
We would especially like to acknowledge our partners in the Information Services Department, the Data Science team, and the CMIO office for helping us to accomplish our mission to enable a culture of innovation at Penn Medicine.
2015 Teams
Automated lab monitoring for patients on high risk medications
The current method for tracking labs via spreadsheets, paper logs and manual lists within EPIC is extremely time consuming and subject to human error. This project seeks to develop and test an automated lab monitoring system for patients on high-risk medications to streamline care coordination, increase the number of labs completed on time to avoid patient safety events and improve patient outcomes.
Carmela Vittorio, MD, Vice Chair of Operations, Dermatology; Matthew Zarkos, IT Manager, Dermatology; Ilya Sharkansky, Senior Web Developer
Our Directives, increasing completion of and compliance with advance directives
Many patients – even those with multiple serious illnesses – have not completed advance directives. The failure to know and follow patients’ end of life preferences leads to both moral distress among family members, inappropriate lengths of stay and utilization of hospital resources, and wasted expenditures that don’t serve patient interests. This project seeks to dramatically increase the number of Penn Medicine patients with completed advance directives with an online platform optimized for usability and rapid testing of novel strategies to help patients confidently answer the questions required for completion.
David Casarett, MD, MA, Director of Palliative Care; Sue Kristiniak, RN, Associate Director of Palliative Care; Scott Halpern, MD PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine; Regina Miller, MSS, LCSW, HUP Social Work Team Leader; Cora Young, MSW, LSW, Manager of Case Management, Good Shepherd Penn Partners; Monique Neault, MSN, CRNP Inpatient Palliative Care Coordinator; Lisa Garcia, BSN, RN-BC, MSN(c), ACE Unit Manager; Rebecca Trotta, PhD, RN Director of Nursing Research and Science
Implementing a teleretinal imaging program to increase the number of diabetic patients receiving eye exams
Diabetes is the leading cause of vision loss in adults. While such vision loss can be avoided by early diagnosis, diabetic patients receive eye examinations at a far lower rate than is necessary to prevent complications, with the majority missing their exam each year. This project seeks to increase the rate of diabetic patients receiving necessary preventative eye services by offering an alternative to “in person” examinations. Screenings can be accomplished with minimal impact on specialists’ time while driving increased appropriate volume to specialists for necessary care and achieving Group Practice Reporting Option (GPRO) goals.
Thomasine Gorry, MD, MGA, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Co-Chair of CPUP Clinical Operations: Quality Domain; Joan O'Brien, MD, Chair of Ophthalmology; Sheara Hollin, COO, Scheie Eye Institute; Tomas Aleman, MD, Retina Service; Eydie Miller, MD, Director of Glaucoma Service, Scheie Eye Institute; Aron Berman, MBA, Director of Operations, Scheie Eye Institute; Gideon Whitehead, BM; Michael Kilzi, Esq.
Increasing compliance with perioperative instructions to decrease complications and improve outcomes
Patient compliance with perioperative instructions supports improved outcomes and reduces the risk for complications and/or readmission. There are long lists of instructions and protocols with strong evidence behind them – from diet and medication adherence to spirometer use, cleaning to avoid SSIs and ambulation – that are hard to understand, remember and follow in our current approach. This project seeks to develop and test a platform to enable both patients and providers to follow the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol to decrease perioperative complications, readmission rates, and length of stay while improve the patient experience.
Stephanie Diem, RN, Clinical Data Analyst; Allen Bar, MD, Clinical Professor; Hannah Lacko, Improvement Advisor; Aida Schumacher, Clinical Nurse Educator; John Regan, Manager, Clinical Data and Quality Systems
Reimagining preoperative evaluation processes to reduce cancellations and improve outcomes
Preventable case cancellations waste valuable OR time, delay necessary procedures, and lead to additional stress for patients and families. Internal review has identified that the many of the 8% of surgical cases that are cancelled on the day of surgery at HUP and PCAM may be avoidable. This project seeks to reimagine the preoperative evaluation process to reduce surgical cancellations and delays, while optimizing patient outcomes and experience.
Marc Royo, MD, Clinical Instructor, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care; Elizabeth Valentine, MD, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care; Renyu Liu, MD, MS, PhD, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care; Onyi Onuoha, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care; Eric Greenblatt, MD, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care; Kathryn Hall, MD, PGY-4 resident in Anesthesiology; Ronnie Zeidan, MD, PGY-3 resident in Anesthesiology; Joseph Savino, MD, Vice-Chair, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care; Lee Fleisher, MD, Chair, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care
Redesigning follow-up scheduling to reduce cancellations and improve patient experience
Effective transitions of care for patients being discharged from the hospital are critical. However, follow-up appointments are currently scheduled via individual phone calls between the patient’s inpatient team and each outpatient clinic without input from the patient. This approach has resulted in only 49% of follow-up appointment being kept as scheduled at HUP. High no-show rates impact our clinics’ efficiency and revenue while the lack of follow up increases the risk of re-hospitalizations and exacerbations of chronic conditions for patients. This project seeks to test new patient scheduling and engagement strategies to reduce no-shows and cancellations, streamline care coordination, and improve patient experience.
Rahul Banerjee, MD, Resident Physician, Department of Internal Medicine; Alex Suarez, Perelman School of Medicine; Scott Schlegel, MBA, Associate Vice President, Electronic Health Record Integration, UPHS; Michael McFall, Admission and Discharge Coordinator, HUP; Jennifer Myers, MD, Director of Quality and Safety Education, Perelman School of Medicine
Pregnancy Early Access Center (PEACE) - optimizing care models for women with miscarriage and other early pregnancy concerns
First trimester miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy. Women often don’t know where to turn when they suspect a problem, resulting in unnecessary emergency room utilization. This project seeks to test a full-service, urgent-care care model for women with signs of miscarriage to reduce cost, free up OR capacity, reduce blood transfusions and improve patient experience.
Courtney Schreiber, MD, MPH, Program Director for the Penn Family Planning and Pregnancy Loss Center, Obstetrics and Gynecology, UPHS; Sarita Sonalkar, MD; Jennifer Moore-Conrow, Administrative Director; Shayna Nagel, RN; Janet Williams, Clinical Care Coordinator; Justine Lai, MBA Candidate 2016; Sarah Rottenberg, Associate Director, Integrated Product Design, Penn
Managing superutilizers
A relatively small group of “superutilizers” account for a disproportionate amount of health care expenditures in practices nationwide. This project will develop and test methods to proactively identify superutilizer patients for new interventions to lower cost by reducing unnecessary utilization of outpatient, inpatient and emergency room care and improve patient outcomes.
Anna Doubeni, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Clinical Family Medicine and Community Health; Meg Baylson, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health, Residency Director; Peter Cronholm, MD, MSCE, Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health, Residency Associate Director, Director of Community Medicine Programs; Tanya Dougherty, PharmD, Clinical Pharmacy Specialist; Steven Honeywell, Jr., Quality Improvement Research Analyst; Heather Klusaritz, PhD, Instructor Family Medicine and Community Health; Sam Martin, Quality Improvement Research Assistant