Innosight Institute’s Disruptive Innovations in Health Care Series: Lancaster General Health

This week the Innosight Institute released the second in a series of case studies that we funded focused on identifying the critical factors necessary for facilitating disruptive innovation in health care. This study examines the approaches that have helped Pennsylvania’s Lancaster General Health become a nationally-recognized leader in quality and safety. Lancaster was selected in part because it is the only health system in this series that operates an integrated health delivery system without owning a payor. In this model Lancaster consistently reinvests the proceeds from its contracts back into the community, making local employers less inclined to  demand lower pricing from payors. With favorable contracts with payors, Lancaster can invest in community health and wellness initiatives.

In its review, Innosight also found that an accountable care model achieved through payor partnerships, strong community support, a quality management system to oversee standardizations across the organization, and investments in electronic medical records systems to create a clinical integration model are among the approaches that have contributed to Lancaster’s success. Read more about lessons Lancaster has learned from its current operations and future paths it, and other organizations like it, could pursue in the future.