Dr Joseph Gifford Considers the Challenge of Innovating at Scale

As the United States looks to reform its healthcare system to provide better value at lower costs, the real challenge is innovating at scale across the country, said Joseph Gifford, MD, chief executive officer of the Providence-Swedish Health Alliance.

Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

What is the biggest challenge facing American healthcare?

I think the issue here is innovation. It's how do we do things different in our health system that really work for people in a way that they are used to being served in other industries now. I think that is the forefront of innovation: how to treat people in a way they expect to be treated, how to create value for people.

And, ultimately, the really hard part of this is: how do you innovate at scale? This isn't a matter of taking a 10-person primary care group and doing really cool things for people in that really small environment. This is around innovating at scale. How do we really change the healthcare system and [Providence-Swedish Health Alliance's] footprint of 5 states, but also the entire country. How are you really going to create a different healthcare system using real innovation to make the difference. And that's the voyage we're all on.