Karen Murphy, Ph.D., R.N., is the executive vice president, chief innovation officer, and founding director of the Steele Institute for Health Innovation at Geisinger. CastLight Search asks Dr. Murphy three questions in a recent interview.
You have a background as a nurse, a CEO and former Secretary of Health of Pennsylvania. What prompted your transition to chief innovation officer and what is your vision for innovation for the Steele Institute at Geisinger?
The healthcare industry is poised for improvement. In order to improve health, healthcare delivery, and lower cost it will be necessary to take a fundamentally different approach. I welcomed the opportunity to work with the tremendous team at Geisinger to innovate and identify new approaches to improving health and healthcare. Geisinger is nationally known for innovation. The organization has developed several innovations such as Proven Care and the Fresh Food Farmacy that lead the nation in improving our healthcare system. The opportunity to work for an organization that recognizes innovation as a value was a tremendous opportunity. I hope to leverage my experience to further advance innovation work at Geisinger.
Defining emerging leadership roles is always difficult because they are in a state of change. What do you find as the biggest challenge with your role? Are these challenges universal to innovation programs or unique to you?
The largest challenge leading innovation is to stay focused on meaningful work. It is easy to become distracted by the latest “shiny new technology.” Innovation in healthcare should be disciplined and focused on solving problems we have related to health, healthcare delivery and cost. By meaningful work, I mean work that significantly moves the needle. To date, as an industry we have really not changed much.
The healthcare system continues to work as it did 20 years ago. Costs continue to rise and gains in quality have been minimal. Patients continue to struggle with their interaction with the healthcare industry. We need to develop disruptive approaches as other industries have done such as in financial industry. When you examine the banking industry 20 years ago with our current state there is little resemblance to the past. The financial industry leveraged technology such as the ATM machine that provided 24/7 access to customers leading to better engagement. The healthcare industry is primed for similar disruption for our patients.
How do you see the role evolving or what do you see as the future of your role?
I see the role of the innovation officer evolving differently across organizations. The key will be to define the role to meet the needs of the organizations. Larger health systems may have innovation experts embedded in several areas while smaller organizations may have a single office. The key is to construct the role that will serve the leadership and organization’s vision.
CastLight Search is a retained search firm delivering healthcare’s innovative leaders. Megan Casey is a partner at CastLight Search.
