Diffusion of Excellence: Accelerating the Spread of Clinical Innovation and Best Practices across the Nation's Largest Health System.

Diffusion of Excellence: Accelerating the Spread of Clinical Innovation and Best Practices across the Nation's Largest Health System. Perm J. 2019;23: Authors: Vega R, Jackson GL, Henderson B, Clancy C, McPhail J, Cutrona SL, Damschroder LJ, Bhatnagar S Abstract The time it takes for clinical innovation and evidence-based practices to reach patients remains a major challenge for the health care sector. In 2015, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) launched the Diffusion of Excellence Initiative aimed at aligning organizational resources with early-stage to midstage promising practices and innovations to replicate, scale, and eventually spread those with greatest potential for impact and positive outcomes. Using a 5-step systematic approach refined over time, frontline VHA staff have submitted more than 1676 practices since the initiative's inception, 47 of which have been selected as high-impact, Gold Status practices. These Gold Status practices have been replicated more than 412 times in Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country, improving care for more than 100,000 veterans and approximately $22.6 million in cost avoidance for the VHA. More importantly, practices such as Project HAPPEN (Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia Prevention by Engaging Nurses to complete oral care) and rapid availability of intranasal naloxone have saved veterans' lives. Several practices are now being implemented across the country, and the Diffusion of ...
Source: The Permanente journal - Category: General Medicine Tags: Perm J Source Type: research