Innovation

Prior authorization is a process where a healthcare provider must obtain approval from a health insurance company before a patient can receive certain medical services, treatments, or medications. This process is used by insurers to review the necessity and cost-effectiveness of the proposed care to control costs and ensure appropriate treatment.

Health insurers require prior authorization to review the medical necessity and cost of treatments or medications before approving coverage. The process usually involves the healthcare provider determining the need for a service, checking if prior authorization is required by the insurer, submitting a formal request with supporting medical information, and then waiting for the insurer's decision, which can be approval, denial, or a request for more information. This process can be manual, time-consuming, and varies by insurer and plan.

Infrastructure automation maturity refers to the level at which an organization has successfully implemented automation in its IT infrastructure operations, including provisioning, configuration, and monitoring. It is often overestimated because many organizations believe they have achieved high automation maturity based on tool adoption, but in reality, they still face inefficiencies such as long deployment times and frequent deployment failures. This gap between perception and reality is due to a lack of true automation excellence behaviors and can mask critical risks and missed opportunities for improvement.

Organizations can balance rapid innovation with control by adopting a strategic blueprint that emphasizes both speed and oversight. This involves leveraging automation to reduce manual errors and accelerate deployments while maintaining rigorous monitoring and security processes. Cultivating a culture that values continuous improvement and realistic assessment of automation capabilities helps ensure that innovation does not come at the expense of operational stability and security.

Carnegie Mellon University was a pioneer in establishing innovation incubators, notably through the Center for Entrepreneurial Development, which was founded in 1971 by Dwight M.B. Baumann. This initiative marked one of the earliest efforts by a university to integrate entrepreneurship into its curriculum and foster innovation across various disciplines.

Carnegie Mellon's entrepreneurial programs evolved significantly over time. Following the establishment of the Center for Entrepreneurial Development in 1971, the university continued to expand its initiatives. Notably, the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship was established in 1989, and more recently, the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship was created in 2015 to further enhance the university's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Creativity is the cognitive ability to generate new, original ideas by finding connections and patterns, while innovation is the process of turning those creative ideas into practical and useful products, services, or processes. In other words, creativity is about idea generation, and innovation is about implementing those ideas to create value.

Creativity is not a fixed talent that people are simply born with; rather, it is a skill that can be developed and expanded over time. Like a muscle, creativity requires practice, focus, and the right mindset to grow. Everyone has the capacity to be creative, and it can be enhanced through learning, collaboration, and intentional exercises.

A high-agency mindset refers to a proactive and resourceful way of thinking where individuals believe they have the power to shape their circumstances. This mindset is crucial for innovation as it involves taking initiative, persisting through challenges, and creatively solving problems, which are essential for driving meaningful change.

High-agency individuals view obstacles as temporary challenges rather than insurmountable barriers. They are resilient, persistent, and creatively resourceful, often finding unconventional solutions to problems by thinking outside the box and taking proactive initiative.

In healthcare, 'rebranding the past' refers to the practice of presenting familiar or existing concepts as new innovations. This can involve renaming or repositioning existing services or technologies without significant changes, rather than introducing genuinely new solutions.

Genuine innovation in healthcare is crucial because it can lead to improved patient outcomes, more efficient care delivery, and better health system performance. Rebranding existing concepts may not address underlying issues or improve services, potentially misleading consumers and providers about the nature of advancements.