Aligning Incentives for Surgical Innovation: Review of the Literature and Best Practices

Background: Innovation in the clinical surgical space is often generated by the insight and ideas of practicing surgeons whose ideas solve direct and relevant clinical problems with both novel products and reimagined processes. Despite some successes in both product and process development, innovation in the practicing surgical space does not occur with the frequency one might expect and does not consistently result in adoption of profitable or health-improving new products or processes. One barrier to successful innovation is the misalignment of incentives for early-stage innovation in the clinical surgical enterprise. This project was undertaken to determine best innovation practices for clinical Divisions and Departments. Methods: Best practices for innovation in industry were determined by company-specific examples, as well as literature review in the business and medical literature. Concepts were then integrated to determine a viable model that aligns incentives to encourage early-stage innovation. Proposal: The centralized Moderated Innovation Database (MID) of early-stage exploratory ideas integrates best practices of innovation in a low-cost, sustainable model. The MID must be executed in 3 phases to ensure viability in implementation. This model is likely to encourage innovation by both improving stakeholder satisfaction with and engagement in the process, and by increasing capture of early-stage innovation. Conclusion: Infrastructure for early-stage ideas will help align incentives for early-stage innovation, and the MID is consistent with best practices for innovation.