Innovative Solutions to Mitigate Infectious Disease Outbreaks

Public health agencies recognize the need to foster innovation to address complex health challenges more effectively. By embracing a broader definition of innovation and creating supportive environments, agencies are finding new ways to improve public health outcomes.

On July 11, 2024, ASTHO hosted the INSPIRE Readiness: Innovating in Public Health Systems webinar. The webinar focused on innovating public health systems, unique approaches to system advancement, and navigating environments that support new practices. This innovation story explores factors challenging innovation and offers strategies for creating a culture of innovation in public health organizations, drawing on insights from the webinar panelists.

“When I think about innovation, it’s really a willingness to disrupt the traditional ways that we do things in order to really find new and improved ways of addressing the emerging health threats and existing health threats that our communities face.”
– Nathan Weed, Chief of Resilience, Washington State Department of Health

“To me, innovation goes beyond developing the latest and greatest piece of technology, especially in public health where often our funding is limited. It’s more about accepting that innovation can really happen anywhere at any time and at any level starting at the individual level all the way up to the larger more complex system like the public health system that we’re a part of.”
– Mimi Kothari, Health Scientist, Office of Readiness and Response, CDC

Policies and Funding

Successful innovation often involves exploring diverse funding streams and creative financing solutions. Public health agencies could look beyond traditional funding sources, leverage public-private partnerships, and explore shared services models.

Challenges and Barriers

To overcome significant challenges, agencies could focus on changing organizational culture to embrace calculated risk-taking and learning from failure. Leaders could work to create safe spaces for experimentation and innovation, recognizing that while not every new idea will succeed, each attempt provides valuable lessons.

“Public health faces immense public and media scrutiny, obviously now more than ever in any of our careers since the pandemic, and that scrutiny is a deterrent to trying something new because, depending on how disruptive a potential innovation can be, that innovation will potentially bring with it a high risk of failure.”
– J.T. Lane, Senior Vice President of Population Health and Innovation, ASTHO

Collaboration and Partnerships

Building diverse partnerships are crucial for driving innovation in public health. Potential partnerships could include private sector companies, academic institutions, and community organizations. These partnerships bring fresh perspectives, additional resources, and knowledge sharing opportunities. For example, major retailers have a great interest in supporting robust public health programs that can combine public health expertise with private sector reach and efficiency.

“CVS Health has a great interest in having a robust community health worker program. We’ve partnered to discover innovative and promising practices in community health worker programs in both public health settings and in health plan settings.”
– J.T. Lane

Tips for Implementing and Scaling

Several strategies can be implemented to foster and sustain innovation:

• Create a culture that accepts failure as part of the innovation process.
• Build diverse advisory boards to guide innovative efforts.
• Implement shared services models where appropriate.
• Measure both process and impact metrics to demonstrate value.
• Start with small pilot projects and iterate based on feedback.
• Dedicate time and resources for staff to engage in innovative thinking.