Managing Innovation in Healthcare

Across the world, the demands placed on healthcare are evolving rapidly. Developed countries face the challenge of providing high-quality, affordable services to an ageing population with changing health needs. Countries with developing health systems must find ways of ensuring their populations are provided with access to the best possible healthcare. Innovative thinking is essential to meet these challenges. At the same time, progress in the science of medicine and the creation of new technologies continues apace. Together, these trends form the backdrop to the growth and development of twenty-first century healthcare. Innovation is, however, both a cause and cure of many modern struggles in healthcare — we need it, but it is hard to manage.This book introduces the latest thinking on understanding and managing healthcare innovation more effectively. It uses real-life examples from around the world, and focusses on the complexity of the technology and innovation involved. These include the large numbers of stakeholders, the complexity of regulations and decision making, coupled with continuously evolving fields of development and discovery. It concludes with discussion of the need to embed innovation in health systems, as opposed to simply adopting them, and challenges of this in the long-term.Managing Innovation in Healthcare is the perfect accompaniment for MSc, PhD and MBA students on health policy, management and public health courses, as well as managers, consultants and policy makers involved in healthcare services in both the public and private sector.