North Carolina-based Novant Health, with its 15 hospitals and 700-plus outpatient facilities across the Southeast, announced the launch this week of a new business division it will use to "incubate, innovate and accelerate" technological innovation, said President and CEO Carl S. Armato.

WHY IT MATTERS
Novant Health Enterprises will operate as an independent business entity within the health system, officials say, with the goal of building partnerships with other healthcare organizations and creating diversified growth.

Building on existing capabilities, NHE will also grow as new service offerings are developed and acquired, they say, with investments and collaborations focused on technology-enabled clinical, financial and operational improvements.

The incubator aims to speed the development of new innovations to drive value across the enterprise, and enable better health outcomes for patients and improved experience for providers.

Novant says the new entity will start by homing on three particular goals areas over the next five years: development of transformational clinical capabilities, expansion into non-acute settings and commercialization of new digital health tools.

THE LARGER TREND
It's been a busy few years for Novant Health's technology leadership. In 2019, the Winston-Salem-based not-for-profit, which serves patients in four states, announced that it would "future-proof" its IT systems by moving its Epic EHR and mission-critical apps to Virtustream's cloud.

That same year, Novant Health launched its Institute of Innovation & Artificial Intelligence, to develop AI and machine learning tools for personalized patient care.

ON THE RECORD
The new Novant Health Enterprises will be led by Dean Swindle, who will serve as executive vice president of Novant Health and president of the new division.

Angela Yochem, Novant Health's chief transformation and digital officer, will also serve as chief operating officer and general manager of NHE.

"Novant Health Enterprises convenes the industry's leading partnerships to deliver on our promise to make health care remarkable for all our patients, in every dimension, every time," said Swindle, in a statement.

"As most of us have witnessed in the healthcare industry, the events of the past two years have underscored the value that technology and transformational capabilities can bring to patient care," he said. "Novant Health Enterprises has never been more confident in the potential for technological innovation to alleviate the most pressing problems in health care and we are excited to get started."

"We'll not only have our finger on the pulse of what is needed to improve care, but we'll have the ability to foster, create, test and apply those solutions at an unprecedented rate," added Yochem. "I look forward to uncovering new opportunities as we focus on Novant Health Enterprises' initial priority areas in the coming months."

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com
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