innovationOchsner (iO) has been named to the “50 Hospitals with Innovation Programs” list by Becker’s Hospital Review. Hospitals on this list either have a specific center dedicated to innovation or an established commercialization arm with its own governing board, and all demonstrate a commitment to bettering healthcare by tackling the biggest challenges facing patient care and care delivery.
Created last year by Ochsner Health System, iO is an innovation lab and accelerator that designs patient-centered solutions through technology and data to empower patients to take an active role in their own health and improve efficiency for physicians and clinicians. Ochsner is the only hospital from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida Panhandle to receive this designation.
iO used Apple Watch as a tool to enhance the effectiveness of the Ochsner Hypertension Digital Medicine Program, a program that monitors clinic patients who struggle with uncontrolled blood pressure. Utilizing wireless blood pressure cuffs integrated with AppleHealthKit and Epic, Ochsner’s Electronic Medical Record (EMR), patients regularly measure their blood pressure ratings at home while the data is sent directly to the clinic for monitoring.
Most recently Ochsner, GE Healthcare and The Idea Village announced their search for entrepreneurs to participate in their latest innovation challenge, Healthy @ Home. This challenge seeks to identify innovators and propose new patient-centered technologies to improve care by monitoring and analyzing movement in the home.
The Becker's Hospital Review editorial team considered nominations and conducted editorial research to select the hospitals included on this list.
Ochsner Health System has been named one of four finalists in the Health Acceleration Challenge by the Forum on Health Care Innovation – a collaboration between Harvard Business School (HBS) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) – for its work on the Ochsner Hypertension Digital Medicine Program.