Health care innovation across health systems

Abstract

Despite the challenges being faced by health care systems worldwide, the implementation of innovations within and across health systems remains slow. While the term ‘innovation’ has become the buzzword in health care literature, collaborative research on an international level is scant. To understand the successes and failures of health care innovations, it is important to review the complex pathways that lead to workable innovations. Furthermore, it is essential that successful innovations are not removed from the outer context in which they were borne, namely the environmental and operational characteristics of the healthcare system. This chapter discusses the extent to which innovation is strategically considered in health systems by comparing three different health systems in three countries, namely the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. It is clear that there are wide variations in innovation capacity across systems, which may influence the extent to which innovations are transferred. Thus research should adopt a more international perspective so as to push towards more equitable global health care delivery through innovative solutions.