April 2014
Insights on Change

 
Innovation is increasingly being looked to as a way to solve some of society's most difficult problems. In the health field, in particular, innovation labs and testing hubs are launching across the Bay Area. Senior Associate Regina Sheridan shares her experience living in the "eye of an innovative storm" and how the push for innovative thinking and disruptive technologies has become a part of our health practice at Informing Change. The healthcare environment is quickly changing, and patients are rapidly being introduced to new innovations that can improve their care and experience. We work with healthcare providers on the front lines of ideating, prototyping and testing new ideas to improve care. Through this work, Regina identified a set of common lessons about testing and piloting these innovative ideas. 
 
 
Over the past decade, local, regional and national philanthropists and practitioners have invested time and resources to develop innovative learning opportunities that integrate Jewish learning with outdoor, food and environmental issues. To better understand the interest and participation in these programs, a collection of Jewish funders collaborated with Hazon to conduct the first national research study on Jewish outdoor, food, and environmental education (JOFEE) experiences. Drawing from the initial research, Informing Change conducted further analysis and collaborated with funders, practitioners and community leaders to make meaning of the research in order to help support and grow JOFEE going forward. Informing Change presented the findings in a comprehensive report with two accompanying case studies--Colorado and New York--and an infographic

The Blue Shield of California Foundation believes that integrating and coordinating services across the safety net is critical to achieving a stronger, more effective system of care for California's underserved. In 2011, the Foundation invested approximately $5 million in safety net integration projects across the state and asked Informing Change to profile two of the projects: the implementation of eConsult, an electronic specialty care referral and consultation system, in Los Angeles County; and the launch of a health information exchange (HIE) in San Joaquin County. The Foundation hopes that this information will be useful to others who are considering, designing, piloting or implementing similar projects.

 

In 2008 the Jim Joseph Foundation invested $10 million to create and develop new specialty camps that would attract Jewish teens not attending other Jewish camps, using the concept of an incubator for a small cohort of camp entrepreneurs. The Incubator was entrusted to the Foundation for Jewish Camp. The Jim Joseph Foundation then engaged Informing Change to design and implement a multi-year evaluation of the Incubator. Informing Change tracked the course of how the Incubator and five new camps made the journey from idea to reality. This report and executive summary highlight key findings of Informing Change's evaluation, and the implications and suggestions for future investments in youth camps, Jewish teen education, incubators and other projects with similarities to the Incubator.

 

In 2012, Blue Shield of California Foundation launched the Executive Excellence program, the most recent addition to the suite of Clinic Leadership Institute programs. Administered by UCLA Anderson Executive Education, the Executive Excellence program offers a range of instruction and supports to catalyze leadership and effectiveness among executive teams in California's community health centers field. In the inaugural cohort of five health centers, the program demonstrated strong outcomes among participating teams, stimulating better communication, enhanced collaboration, and more data-informed and strategic choices. Read more about the Executive Excellence evaluation highlights in the data dashboard produced by Informing Change.

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