Health Cities unveils framework for collaborative problem-solving
Health Cities, a non-profit that has long convened innovators in health, is now working on a way to make the ecosystem's innovative ideas more actionable and accessible through the Health Innovation Network, which CEO Reg Joseph unveiled at an event on May 13.
This was an unveiling and not a launch, Joseph told Taproot, because the network's current form is a beta version that will be shaped by a variety of stakeholders invested in a healthier world. "How do we look at new models, new ways of innovating to solve big, big problems within the system?" Joseph asked an energetic crowd at the Bison Lodge. "What I really want from all of you … and the reason why you've been invited here, is that we need your brain. You need your mind. We need your ideas." Accordingly, there is a feedback survey intended to shape the network's real debut, which Joseph said will come this fall.
In that spirit of cross-sector collaboration, Health Cities also announced on May 13 that it is leading a project called Smart Care Clinic to embed innovation into primary care. Its partners are Sage Seniors Association and Victoria-based Care2Talk Health, which describes itself a private healthcare network. Joseph told Taproot that the collaboration is meant to leverage private strengths for public good as the consortium tries out innovations, not an effort to further the encroachment of private healthcare on Canada's publicly funded, universal system. He believes the Health Innovation Network and Smart Care Clinic can improve access to care. "We're going through significant change in Alberta's healthcare system," he told the May 13 crowd. "That has created opportunities, and we want to capitalize on those opportunities, and we want to get the power of all of you behind those opportunities to help us figure out how to solve some of these problems."
