Becker's Hospital Review

62 INNOVATION General Catalyst: Why the VC firm with an unassuming name should have healthcare's attention By Giles Bruce I n July, venture capital firm General Catalyst launched its second $600-million-plus fund focusing on healthcare. en on Aug. 11, the company plucked Marc Harrison, MD, the president and CEO of Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare, to run a healthcare investment platform. But who exactly is this company that's suddenly capturing the attention of the healthcare world? Founded in 2000 in Cambridge, Mass., General Catalyst backs firms in various stages of development, from seed to "endurance" companies, actively helping build them. Its portfolio includes such household names as Airbnb, Instacart and Snapchat. On the healthcare side, it has funded such health tech startups as Aidoc, Cadence, Color, Livongo, OM1, Olive, Osmind, Ro and Sword Health. Dr. Harrison wasn't General Catalyst's first former hospital executive hire. He will join Daryl Tol, the ex-CEO of Altamonte Springs, Fla.- based AdventHealth, who became the firm's first head of health assurance in June, and Stephen Klasko, MD, the former CEO of Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health, who was named executive-in- residence in February. General Catalyst had previously partnered with both Intermountain Healthcare and Jefferson Health on innovation, offering access to its health tech startups to drive digital health and value-based care at the health systems. e firm has also collaborated with Nashville, Tenn.- based HCA Healthcare, and in August 2021 General Catalyst portfolio company Commure bought the hospital chain's PatientKeeper health data platform. e firm has declared its intentions to be ambitious in the healthcare space "We're actually excited about the opportunity to build companies that are more intentional and that are really, truly focused on the gaps in care and encouraging management teams to concentrate on their core, rather than some ancillary business that might have made sense during a different time," Chris Bischoff, a General Catalyst managing director, told Forbes in July. n Where innovation is needed most in healthcare By Naomi Diaz I nnovative solutions are needed in almost every aspect of healthcare including its delivery to consumers, its technology and its business models. Three health system chief innovation officers told Becker's areas where healthcare innovation can grow. Question: Where do you think innovation is most needed in the healthcare space? Note: Responses were edited for length and clarity. Elizabeth Hagerman, PhD. Chief Innovation Officer of UW Health (Madison, Wis.): There is room for innovation in every corner of the healthcare space. Innovation inherently involves some level of trial and error, and that can feel antagonistic to quality systems designed to support continuous improvement of health and safety, which is core to the mission of every healthcare organization. In the healthcare space, we must therefore be astute about when it is appropriate to try something new and disrupt an established way of doing things, while still maintaining high standards for health and safety. The more we can build in mechanisms to support early adoption and evaluation of new ideas and processes without compromising quality and safety or larger operational goals, the faster we will be able to advance innovations that can improve all aspects of health, care delivery and support. Jesse Goodwin, PhD. Chief Innovation Officer of MUSC Health (Charleston, S.C.): I believe there are big opportunities related to enhancing our patient and family experience as well as improving our own care team members' mental health and overall wellness. These two areas of opportunity represent approximately 40 percent of the ideas submitted by our care team members through our innovation gateway last year and are areas which our leaders are keenly focused on transforming. Thomas Graham, MD. Chief Innovation and Transformation Officer of Kettering (Ohio) Health: Popular dogma may gravitate to the tech solution that enables volume-to-value transition or leveraging genomic information to reverse disease. Honestly, I think we need to "Innovate Innovations." We as CINOs must continue to collaborate both on the ways we stimulate and gestate tomorrow's solutions and how we convince our systems that innovation is an essential element of operations and strategy. If successful, we will protect the values of ideas and the importance of the role. n

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