Create Innovation Ramps, Not Roadblocks, to Speed Review of New Devices

San Diego—Value analysis has become a holy grail in health care. But how can health care organizations introduce innovative techniques and technologies safely and cost-effectively?

To improve the review process, Dr. Aloia and the continuous quality improvement team—which includes representatives from surgery, anesthesiology, infection control, and nursing—developed an algorithm to delineate the course of action for evaluating and subsequently approving or denying a product request. After reviewing the evidence, the team decides to: 1) deny, if the product is deemed unsafe; 2) approve with institutional review board protection if the product carries a high risk or has minimal safety data; 3) approve but include quality reporting measures, depending on benefit to patients; and 4) approve for practice. Once a product clears the safety review, the value analysis team crunches the numbers.