Becker's Hospital Review

FINANCE STRATEGY AND INNOVATION 19 The Art of Stopping: When Innovating Means Hitting the Breaks By Tamara Rosin M ost people understand innovation as starting some- thing new. Aer all, Oxford Dictionaries defines the word as making changes to the established, "espe- cially by introducing new methods, ideas or products." e lesser discussed side of innovation is when you stop something. ere has been no shortage of stopping, halting, quitting, banning and barring in the U.S. recently. e Confederate bat- tle flag was lowered from the South Carolina state capital, CVS stopped selling tobacco products and Ringling Brothers and Bar- num & Bailey Circus decided to retire its traveling elephants. In healthcare specifically, Cleveland Clinic cut ties with Mc- Donald's in its cafeteria, three prominent academic medical cen- ters took steps to ban low-volume surgeries, New York City hos- pitals agreed to ban reality TV filming without patient approval and Mayo Clinic stopped requiring an outmoded dress code for women. Stopping one thing doesn't just have to be an effect of starting something else. Rather, the deliberate departure from existing approaches, systems and norms should be given equal consider- ation as healthcare organizations look for ways to innovate and improve the care they provide. Stopping something might be the best innovation for a hospital, even if it is uncomfortable to break from the norm. Stopping requires bold leadership Change via stopping requires leaders to exercise a different muscle, and organizations to be flexible. First and foremost, deciding to stop something major or in- grained requires the willingness to take risks. "Leaders need to have the ability to look at the systems and processes that have been part of an organization historically and assess the value they truly bring to the organization today," says David Jarrard, president and CEO of Jarrard, Phillips, Cate & Hancock, a healthcare strategic communications and public af- fairs firm. ere are a few other muscles leaders need before stopping or quitting something. One: A board that understands risk and is willing to accept failure, learn quickly and move on without pen- alty, according to Mr. Jarrard. is is critical to innovation efforts, which by definition imply risk. While Mr. Jarrard says "there is an important difference between smart risk and crazy risk," a leader who fears failure and a board that is overly punishing could not possibly innovate. Executives also need internal support before stopping some- thing. All change efforts — whether starting or stopping — de- mand a relatively high level of cultural alignment. It is the leader's responsibility to demonstrate why taking the risk will yield val- ue and how abandoning something reflects the health system's greater mission. Stopping something often means breaking from the past "Change requires that you break from habit," says Manu- el Hernandez, MD, MBA, practicing emergency physician and leader of CannonDesign's Health Advisory Services. "Many of the steps and processes people are engaged in — in any industry — can become almost automatic and oppressive." Ditching a common practice requires as much observation, thought and planning as starting an initiative. Just look at two health systems that recently backed way from practices that, over the years, became ingrained in their culture. In early June, Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic revised its dress code for women. Aer many years of requiring women to wear nylon stockings, as of June 12, wearing nylons is optional. "You would not believe how excited people are," senior web production specialist, Danielle Teal, told NBC affiliate KTTC. "I mean, it's definitely a reference to the Braveheart 'Freedom!' you know? You want to yell it out, run around and throw your pant- yhose out the window." Mayo Clinic's decision to give its female employees a leg up on their dress code may seem like a trivial change, but as Ms. Teal's enthusiastic comment conveys, ending the hosiery require- ment is actually a big step toward making women workers more comfortable, which could positively impact performance. Cleveland Clinic also made a decision this summer to stop something that was commonplace, though increasingly counter- intuitive. Aer allowing fast-food-chain McDonald's to operate in its food court for 20 years, Cleveland Clinic decided in August to close down the restaurant in mid-September. "We want to demonstrate that we can walk the talk by being a healthier organization," said Cleveland Clinic spokeswoman Eileen Sheil, adding that removing McDonald's is part of a much broader wellness campaign at the hospital. The point of no return Sometimes the stakes of an innovation effort are higher. When CVS decided to stop selling tobacco products in stores in February 2014, the franchise took a huge financial risk. None of its competitors indicated intention of following suit. At a certain stage of CVS' plan to remove tobacco products from its shelves, the company's leadership reached a point of no

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