Innovation in Healthcare Organizations: Concepts and Challenges to Consider

Abstract

Healthcare systems have become increasingly complex and have faced difficulties in finding solutions to emerging population needs. New technologies have allowed users to obtain the information they need at speed never seen before in human history. This fact has promoted reflection, change, and restructuration in large healthcare corporations' traditional management style, which seeks to incorporate in their business model elements more flexible and interactive in connection with the recent challenges and the current healthcare trends. Promoting a creative and innovative culture in health organizations to allow the stakeholders to find solutions focused on healthcare systems' real needs is one of the most important elements to respond to emergent challenges. However, the development of mechanisms enhances a creative environment, and evaluative approaches that demonstrate the reliability and added value of innovations remain challenging. Therefore, this paper develops and recalls certain essential concepts that can help researchers, managers, and health workers interested in creating (or maintain) a favorable environment for innovation in healthcare organizations. The article also explores and clarifies some of the key critical elements of an innovation process from a strategic and organizational perspective, starting from contextual input elements favorable to its emergence until its evaluation stage. Keywords: Organizational innovation, Creativity, Health evaluation.