Global Diffusion of Healthcare Innovation - New Research

New Ipsos research, conducted on behalf of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, examines the factors that have fostered the adoption of healthcare innovation in eight countries: Australia, Brazil, England, India, Qatar, South Africa, Spain and the US. The Global Diffusion of Healthcare Innovation (GDHI) research aims to provoke discussion and debate among healthcare leaders worldwide about what can be done to encourage the spread of innovation and contribute to system transformation in healthcare.

The study examines the importance and prevalence of a set of specific enablers and cultural dynamics (or organisational behaviours), first identified as a framework for diffusion of healthcare innovation by the Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI), Imperial College London, in its study From innovation to transformation. In association with the IGHI, Ipsos conducted qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys among nearly 2,500 healthcare providers, policy makers, public health leaders and technology industry leaders across the eight countries.

Our findings identify the enabling factors and organisational behaviours that support or hamper the diffusion of healthcare innovation, both in each country and globally. The study highlights particular areas where countries are successfully creating conditions that foster diffusion and other areas that they may need to strengthen. Results have been presented for the first time at the World Innovation Summit for Health in Doha on 11^th December 2013.

Emily Gray, Director of International Social Research, said:

“To deliver real benefit in healthcare, innovations need to be scaled up so that they can be used to improve outcomes for the many, not just for the few. This new research highlights just how important winning the hearts and minds of healthcare professionals working on the front line is in making that happen.”

Key global findings

1. Countries are taking different routes to encouraging the spread of innovation, by using different mixes of enablers. In the US, incentives and rewards have played an important role. In England, by contrast, it is healthcare standards and protocols that are noted for having helped the spread of innovation by encouraging healthcare organisations to put in place innovative ways of improving their delivery processes.
2. The cultural dynamics that relate to the role of people in spreading innovation are those that the healthcare professionals we surveyed in most countries believe are most prevalent in the organisations for which they work. They see “identifying and supporting champions” as the most prevalent dynamic within their organisations, closely followed by “harnessing the efforts of patients and the public as co-producers of well-being”. In-depth interviews with experts also highlight the fundamental role that these cultural dynamics can play in spreading innovation in healthcare. What this tells us is that a focus on the front line – where care is delivered – can be very powerful in bringing about a more rapid diffusion of innovation.
3. There is still scope for considerable improvement in embedding the cultural dynamics within healthcare organisations in future. Four of the dynamics – “creating space”, “adapting innovation, “improving the next journey of system transformation” and “eliminating old and ineffective ways of working (or delayering)” – are not rated by healthcare professionals overall as being as prevalent as the two dynamics already discussed. Our survey also shows the importance of ensuring frontline staff feel engaged with their organisations in promoting more effective diffusion of innovation; those healthcare professionals who say they would speak highly of their organization are more likely to rate that organisation highly on the prevalence of the cultural dynamics.
4. To bring about change in the diffusion of innovation across a health system, it appears to be important to focus on developing and using both local enablers and cultural dynamics simultaneously. In all eight countries, healthcare professionals rate the prevalence of the enablers and cultural dynamics within their organisation at broadly similar levels.
5. Moving forward, experts identify four areas of evolution. Three relate to the enabling factors that countries or healthcare systems can put in place. These are progress in ICT, government-led initiatives setting a clear vision and strategy of what healthcare innovation can achieve, and the allocation of specific resources to identify and promote healthcare innovation. The fourth area underscores the importance of the cultural dynamics. Developing and maintaining a keen sense of openness to and interest in innovations among healthcare professionals on the front line is seen as essential in helping to spread innovation everywhere.

For more detailed findings and analysis, please access the GDHI microsite.

• Download the Healthcare Professionals GDHI survey topline results (PDF)
• Download the Industry Professionals GDHI survey topline results (PDF)
• Download the GDHI technical note (PDF)

Notes

The research comprises both qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data was generated through a total of 103 in-depth interviews conducted between August and October 2013 with healthcare experts across the eight countries. These experts were selected as having a strategic overview of their country’s health system and they cover a range of players in the health system. The quantitative data was gathered from a survey of a total of 1,521 healthcare professionals (HCPs) and 772 health product industry professionals (IPs) conducted between August and October 2013. The survey was conducted online in all countries except Qatar and South Africa, where it was conducted face-to-face as a more appropriate way of accessing these respondents.