Originally Published: October 23, 2013 2:38 PMModified: October 23, 2013 3:55 PM

Innovation in the health care industry is the theme of this year's Crain's Health Care Leadership Summit and keynote speaker Maureen Bisognano, CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, will present several examples of innovative health care organizations that are leading the way.

In her book, Pursuing the Triple Aim, Bisognano tells the stories of seven health care organizations that have improved the health of populations they serve, enhanced patient care experiences and reduced per capita costs.

"Population health is a challenge for hospitals and physicians because they have to shift their thinking from (delivering) procedures to understanding the health needs of the patients they serve," said Bisognano in an interview with Crain's Detroit.

"Innovation comes from health organizations taking a local perspective" and finding ways to deliver high quality care at lower costs, said Bisognano.

The Triple Aim actually is a strategy developed by Cambridge, Mass.-based IHI to improve health system performance. It encourages organizations to improve quality, identify waste, improve chronic disease care, develop systems to reduce duplication of services and deliver effective patient care.

Along with co-author Charles Kenney, Bisognano described in her book such innovators as:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts created provider contracts that encourage hospitals and physicians to work more closely together to improve quality and reduce costs while delivering value to employers.

HealthPartners, a Bloomington, Minn.-based integrated delivery system, developed a number of quality improvement programs in response to the Institute of Medicine's groundbreaking report, To Err is Human.

Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle adopted Toyota Production System methods to streamline medical and administrative processes that led to increased employee efficiencies, lower costs and higher quality.

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Crain's Health Summit: Keynote speaker Maureen Bisognano to highlight health care innovators