Becker’s Healthcare: University Hospitals’ innovation accelerated during the pandemic; here’s what is coming next
“If this crisis has revealed anything, it’s that rapid innovation is essential, and not just in the areas of therapies or devices, but the manner in which we partner with nontraditional or previously unaffiliated businesses and eco-system partners. collaborations are happening at unprecedented speeds” said David Sylvan.
David Sylvan, president of UH Ventures, the innovation and commercialization arm of University Hospitals in Cleveland, sees innovation as essential during the pandemic.
Mr. Sylvan outlines the projects he is working on to support the health system’s efforts to care for COVID-19 patients and plans to resume elective procedures.
Question: What are your top two to three priorities today?
David Sylvan: As anyone in healthcare delivery can appreciate, we are simultaneously pursuing a number of parallel tracks. Each work stream is driven by our system’s unified command center, focusing on an overarching set of imperatives for our patients; our caregivers, and our community.
Inasmuch as Ohio in general, and our system specifically, might be experiencing a more muted impact compared to other states and regions, we certainly haven’t been unscathed by the pandemic, and continued preparation and positioning for any uptick in infection rates and admissions remains an ever-present priority. This includes continuous monitoring of PPE burn rates for each category with our supply chain leadership; physician and nurse load balancing by location; expansion of infection and antibody testing, etc.