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Getting to Transformation

Aaron Sklar presenting the WISH Design in Health Care report in Doha – 11/13/2018

At least a few times a year I am asked by a senior healthcare leader, “How can I systematize innovation?”.  And while I’ve been privileged to lead and execute innovation at Kaiser Permanente, Hopelab, and the Innovation Learning Network, never I have been able to articulate as thoroughly as the WISH 2018 Design in Health Care Report.

In early 2018, I joined a group of esteemed design leaders of healthcare to develop a WISH point-of-view on the human-centered health system. We pooled our collective experience to generate nine recommendations in three categories.  And while it was developed for policymakers in government, as I reread the report with fresh eyes this week in Doha, it’s also an excellent starter set for healthcare leaders who are serious about transformation.

Whether your organization is just getting started or needs a transformation tune-up, these nine principles will leapfrog your organization into the future.

Make a visible commitment to human-centeredness

1. Mandate empathetic design activities
2. Involve and incentivize patients and the public
3. Partner with patients to co-design

 Teach design thinking principles to every staff member

4. Mandate empathetic design research and prototyping training for accredited healthcare professionals
5. Incorporate human-centered design training for the entire workforce
6. Facilitate bottom-up problem solving

 Invest in targeted design expertise

7. Embed design teams in healthcare organizations (and government)
8. Sponsor design challenges in healthcare
9. Sponsor a human-centered design community of practice

Read the full report here.

Special thank you to Aaron Sklar who led and organized the committee and the production of this report.