Social innovation management to support integrated care: Insights from an Italian revelatory case study

This research deals with Social Innovation (SI) and integrated and connected care in the hospital care, presenting a successful experience of telemedicine's implementation within the Italian context. Nowadays integrated care and connected care are relevant concepts for delivering people-centered healthcare; though their operationalization is challenging and requires accounting for systems' complexity. In this regard, SI may be a catalyst, since it consists in a kind of innovation motivated by social needs. Extant research on SI in healthcare is scant and fragmentary, overlooking operational features and enabling conditions. Considering these gaps, the paper investigates the potential contribution of SI management to integrated and connected care. For the purpose, it offers a revelatory case study, concerning the pediatric research hospital Gaslini (Genoa, Italy), which is, to our knowledge, the first Italian public hospital to have hired a SI manager. By referring to a telemedicine pilot project, the study analyzes main features of the SI management process and its approach to promote integrated and connected care. Research data are analyzed by combining Gioia methodology and systems thinking. The resulting grounded theory model is causal loops-shaped and highlights virtuous mechanisms of SI unveiling generative voids and existing skills.