Novel laboratory Aims to Improve Population Health, Prepare Transformational Leaders

The Indiana University Center for Health Innovation and Implementation Science has developed a novel laboratory that employs the tools of implementation science to improve population health, lower costs of delivery and developing transformational leaders in healthcare. A paper on the laboratory has been published in Zeitschrift für Evidenz, Fortbildung und Qualität im Gesundheitswesen, formerly known as the German Journal for Quality in Health Care.

The Indiana Clinical Translational Science Institute was launched two years ago and since then has developed a groundbreaking curriculum and is offering the first graduate level certificate in health innovation and implementation science in the United States. It operates on an evidence-based collaborative care model for older adults with cognitive and emotional disorders and has partnered up with other health care systems including Indiana University Health, Eskenazi Health, and the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center to work on improving patient care, population health and workforce transformational development.

"The IU Center for Health Innovation and Implementation Science uses implementation science methodology to shorten the translational timeline between the discovery of evidence-based clinical solutions and the implementation of such solutions into the daily operation of the current health care delivery services," said senior author Dr. Boustani. The founder of the center, he is also associate director of the IU Center for Aging Research, a Regenstrief Institute investigator, and director of the Eskenazi Health Center Healthy Aging Brain Center.

This revolutionary laboratory does not have the usual microscopes, beakers, pipettes or mass spectrometers but instead focuses on developing tools, processes and strategies that could ensure the rapid, efficient, and sustainable implementation of evidence-based programs and practices in the real world environments. The goal is to improve the rate of translation of health care discoveries into everyday practice, an area that needs significant improvement as highlighted by the National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Medicine.

The authors of the paper conclude that there is a need to develop an agile, adaptable learning system that has the potential to provide a balance between the individual patient and population health, the hospital and home care, the expert and personal health care manager.

Source: Indiana University

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