Spotlight on Collaboration and Digital Innovation at Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit

Speakers will share insights into the forces driving innovation during COVID and how to sustain the momentum that will transform healthcare delivery.

The annual Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit, which will be held on October 6, features elements that are reflective of what's happening in the greater healthcare landscape: it's virtual; it's collaborative, featuring leaders of other healthcare systems for the first time ever; and there's a focus on the value of digital technology. Registration is free to convene a broad community from around the world to focus on how to continue the transformation of healthcare delivery that was spawned by a global pandemic.

The Future of Healthcare: Digital Transformation is the 18^th iteration of the Medical Innovation Summit organized by Cleveland Clinic Innovations, the development and commercialization arm of Cleveland Clinic. While the agenda spans a broad variety of topics, including collaboration between healthcare systems as well as between pharmaceutical companies, digital investment trends, and digital innovation, the format for the one-day event is straightforward. There will be no concurrent sessions, although those who register will have access to on-demand content with information related to the Summit's popular annual Top 10 Medical Innovations list.

To gain further insights into how the innovation landscape is shifting and what participants can expect to hear at the Summit, HealthLeaders spoke to Will Morris, MD, executive medical director, Cleveland Clinic Innovations, and Susan Bernat, general manager of strategic marketing, Cleveland Clinic Innovations. Their comments have been lightly edited for space and clarity.

HealthLeaders: Innovation has accelerated at an unbelievable pace over the last six months due to COVID. What insights can you share about this phenomenon?

"The question I have is has innovation exploded, or have the barriers gone to the wayside?" says Morris. [Those barriers] have impeded what consumers, providers, payers, and entrepreneurs all knew to be true, which is that there are tremendously powerful digital tools that create unbelievable experiences and accessibility to access high quality, highly affordable patient care. Certainly with COVID, we needed to remove some of the policies in place."

Beyond removing policies, mindsets also shifted, he says. "We really put aside old ideologies of what could and could not be successfully managed via telehealth and digital health." This opened doors for virtual care, created new applications for telehealth, and opened eyes into the value of asynchronous communications.

COVID "challenged the status quo," says Morris. "A lot of the technology and the solutions have been in existence for years. One of the unintended but positive consequences of COVID has been an acceleration in the adoption, deployment, and frank embracement" of these approaches to care. "The fear that this would drive overutilization has not been met, and in fact, we're able to provide the right care to the right patient in the right format at the right cost. That is the cornerstone of value-based care," he says.

"When we talk about affordability and access," Morris says, "we'd be remiss not to talk about health inequities and healthcare disparities. We will be talking about how we ensure that all patients, all community members, have access to world-class care."

Morris adds, "At the Summit, you're going to hear a diversity of speakers—payers, pharma, physicians, patients, providers—all speaking in a similar voice that that we must continue on this trajectory. In that diversity of input, you will hear a high degree of consensus on a need to move forward and accelerate the embracement of these powerful tools."

HL: One of your themes appears to be about the value of collaboration. Why is that important?

A lot of "collaborations and partnerships were developed through COVID," says Bernat. "When we looked at putting the agenda together, and the environment we are in, we wanted to make sure we're pulling together key individuals to have a conversation [about]  how to continue to make sure that healthcare innovation stays top of mind to everyone beyond COVID," she says.

"For the first time ever we brought CEOs from other systems to speak at the summit," says Bernat.  The event kicks off with a panel of prominent hospital CEOs addressing the importance of provider collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists include Tom Mihaljevic, MD, CEO and president, Cleveland Clinic; Gianrico Farrugia, MD, president and CEO, Mayo Clinic; and Ann Klibanski, MD, president and CEO, Massachusetts General Hospital.

"What COVID has drawn into sharp focus," Morris adds "is that we are only as strong as how well we can convene as a community around a common purpose of achieving better value healthcare delivery for our patients—that is the overwhelming North Star."

HL: What impact has COVID had on innovation?

"The global economy has put tremendous stressors on the system and a real focus on how do we provide high quality care that is affordable?" says Morris. "Our calling to do that is ever more present. That has allowed us to draw into sharp focus where we need to deploy capital. Before COVID, we might be considering growing and building through bricks and mortar. Post-COVID [we're looking at] how can we disintermediate buildings and meet patients where they are virtually and digitally. The market is a white, hot space around how digital technology can enable experience, but also knowledge, insight, data mining, et cetera. It continues to be a white-hot area because, at the end of the day, it allows us to drive accessibility for our patients and meet them where they are and deliver higher quality care through new, differentiated experiences.

HL: How have entrepreneurs and startups been impacted in this new climate?

"It's a challenge to be a startup right now when hospital systems and payers are capital scarce," says Morris. "We want to ensure that we're meeting the needs of patients and also managing this pandemic. So if an entrepreneur is driving that sales cycle, navigating it is difficult. But we are seeing tremendous technologies, particularly in the space of digital medicine, explode and be adopted and disintermediate. It's still playing out, but at the end of the day, I think that entrepreneurs and startups really need to heed the calling of value. How does a device, a technology, or a platform not just add cost to a system, but drive value, better patient experience, better quality, and lower cost?"

HL: Is there anything you'd like to add?

"There's a lot of conversation, especially with COVID, of government versus private versus all [the other] key constituents," Morris says. "It is really is about a team. It's about all aspects [having] a shared mission. It is amazing what this country can do when driven towards a clear North Star message. How healthcare systems met the call to action, how the ancillary and supportive services met that call, is truly a testament to the esprit de corps that people in healthcare live and feel every day. As much as we want the Summit to be a tremendous learning and educational [experience] we also hope it's a celebration for all of those on the frontline, and the countless others who are in service for the betterment of patients."