Organizational readiness for innovation in health care: some lessons from the recent literature

Abstract

There is no single intervention that will trigger or ensure innovation in health care, as the interaction between the innovation and the context of its introduction is necessarily complex and variable. Although academic attention has recently turned to the role of organizations in promoting and embedding innovation, this literature remains light on prescription, and tends to ignore the issue of substitution and disengagement. Innovation needs to be adapted as well as adopted into organizational contexts and receptive climates for innovation can only be developed incrementally over time. This paper identifies recommendations for increasing the readiness of health-care organizations for innovation. Key organizational strategies for embedding innovation include: development of incentives; sophisticated knowledge management; interfunctional and interorganizational coordination and collaboration; and development of an innovation infrastructure. More attention is required to substitution and disengagement of interventions and practices (exnovation) in the current economic climate.