Making Innovation an Integral Part of Healthcare Leadership

With virtual health becoming a mainstay in the healthcare landscape, more health systems are including innovation in their leadership structure. The management of new tools and technologies, as well as new strategies that aim to improve clinical care and fine-tune clinician workloads, often now falls to the chief innovation officer, the chief technology innovation officer, or the vice president of digital innovation.

Sri Bharadwaj leads that charge at Franciscan Health, a 12-hospital, 400-site health system based in Indiana. As vice president of digital innovation and applications since February of 2020, he’s been guiding the health system through an intense period of change, precipitated by the pandemic, along with what he says is the journey to value-based care.

“Central to this is change management,” he says. “It’s a critical component of how we operate, and how we will become a virtual hospital of the future.” The operative word there is ‘change,’ and it’s a key component of the role that Bharadwaj and others like him play in transitioning healthcare to value-based care.