Men's Health Innovation.

Abstract

Innovation is a hot topic in all industrial sectors of the U.S. economy. Health care is no stranger to innovation. The passage of the Affordable Care Act and technological changes in health care systems has propelled health care into the dire need for innovation as a means for sustained future success. Health care continues to make rapid advances to improve patient outcomes and health care delivery systems. Health care providers are a key asset in the innovation of health care. Innovations in health care should be bidirectional—from a top-down and bottom-up approach. An innovation is generally considered implementing new ideas, creating new products or service lines, or creating a new method of utilizing an existing idea, product, or service. The old saying “identify a need and fill a need” is central to innovation. Innovation in men’s health is no different. We need to identify the unique men’s health needs and develop new innovative approaches, products, or services to improve men’s health. In this call for action, I am suggesting that all men’s health care providers need to think creatively and innovatively regarding men’s health (Gehrt, 2014). Innovative men’s health strategies are dependent on innovative leaders. Innovative leaders are defined as possessing critical attributes. These innovative leadership attributes are self-awareness, lifetime learner, visionary, inspiring, change advocate, agile, positively deviant, passion, courage to fail, engaged, honest, and respectful. To promote positive men’s health innovation, men’s health leader attributes are further shaped by an innovative health care environment. An innovative health care environment creates mechanisms to generate and incubate ideas, supports innovation with appropriate resource allocation, invests in early adaptors, promotes time to generate innovation, celebrates successes, celebrates failures and supports learning from failures, and promotes leadership supportive of innovation (Gehrt, 2014). Men’s health is dependent on innovation. It is critical that men’s health care providers are active partners and engaged in the creation of innovative health care services for men. With the current changes in health care systems stimulated by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, now is the time to ensure innovative and creative integration of men’s health into primary and acute health care services.