NJ Catalyst Initiative Bringing Innovation to the Safety Net

A series of four case studies demonstrates how the Nicholson-funded NJ Catalyst Initiative helped several New Jersey healthcare organizations develop innovative solutions to problems facing vulnerable populations in their communities.

The Nicholson Foundation funded the Center for Care Innovations (CCI) to launch the NJ Catalyst Initiative in 2015 to promote a culture of innovation among healthcare groups working in the safety net. In the first phase of the initiative, CCI provided innovation coaches and training in human-centered design to teams from nine healthcare organizations over a four-month period. In the second phase, seven of these teams received additional coaching and support to develop a novel solution and an implementation plan to address an identified problem at their organization.

Independent evaluators White Mountain Research Associates conducted evaluations of four of the completed projects, detailing how the teams advanced in their thinking and skills over the course of the program. To learn more about these projects, download the full case studies below:

• Trinitas Regional Medical Center – The innovation team at Trinitas explored using EMTs and paramedics as Community Health Integrated Practitioners to help community members become more proactive about their health and connect them to primary care providers to better manage their chronic health conditions.
• St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center – The St. Joseph’s innovation team developed a low-tech, patient-friendly Heart Failure Education Toolkit to help patients understand their symptoms and learn how to manage them, with the aim of improving patients’ quality of life and reducing hospital readmissions.
• Hospital Alliance of New Jersey – To reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and connect patients to the resources they need to be healthy, the Hospital Alliance innovation team mapped the distribution of resources for the underserved in Paterson, NJ, and connected patients with local care navigators.
• CompleteCare Health Network – The innovation team at CompleteCare designed a “Pathways to Wellness” process for staff and patients to follow to ensure that patients receive necessary testing and are given their results in a timely and sensitive manner.