Scaling Innovation in a Publicly Funded System: A UK Pathway From Evidence to Adoption

Area of Science:

• Health services research
• Healthcare innovation
• Health technology assessment

Background:

• Canadian healthcare systems struggle to integrate evidence-based innovations into routine practice.
• Fragmented functions for evidence, funding, procurement, and delivery hinder innovation adoption in Canada.
• The UK's tax-funded healthcare system offers a partially connected model for managing these functions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To map the architecture of evidence translation and implementation in healthcare.
• To explain how evidence moves into practice using the nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability (NASSS) framework.
• To identify practical implications for improving healthcare innovation adoption in Canada.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual mapping of the healthcare innovation ecosystem.
• Analysis of evidence translation pathways.
• Application of the NASSS framework principles.
• Case study analysis of placental growth factor testing and stroke imaging AI adoption in the UK.

Main Results:

• A connected architecture linking research, assessment, regulation, procurement, and data is crucial for evidence implementation.
• National assessment, adoption support, and procurement facilitated rapid, large-scale adoption of innovations in the UK.
• The NASSS framework provides principles to address challenges in nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability.

Conclusions:

• Canada can benefit from a single, repeatable pathway for evidence-to-practice translation.
• Implementing national frameworks, conditional adoption with evidence generation, and investment in implementation capacity are key.
• Secure data environments are essential for real-world evaluation and sustained adoption of healthcare innovations.