Background: Delivering HVC is a core component of hospitalist practice, and equipping residents with skills and experience to lead HVC initiatives is a priority for training institutions and for society. We describe the design, founding and implementation of the nation’s first Housestaff Council on Value and Innovation (HCVI) as a platform for engaging trainees in HVC work and the innovations development process.
Purpose: As interest in health systems science grows within the physician community, establishing pathways for trainees to gain skills and experience in these areas is a critical step in building a national leadership pipeline in this area. However, trainees lack formal structures to engage with institutional leadership, learn core skills and participate in work across their institutions and with innovators developing new technologies. The HCVI was founded to bridge this gap by creating a local community of trainees seeking to advance their skills in this area and engage and HVC projects and innovation design.
Description: The HCVI identifies residents across GME who are interested in participating in value-based care redesign and innovations development, provides them with tailored education and resources, and facilitates their participation in projects across the health system and within the community.
The HCVI is organized around three core divisions – education, projects and innovation, and research. Each division is led by a Vice-Chair (VC) and the committee as a whole is led by two co-Chairs who craft strategy, and oversee execution of annual goals and liaise with institutional leadership to align council work with strategic aims. The VC of Education designs curricula for residents focused on HVC principles and the innovation design process, and also serves to connect residents with existing training opportunities across the institution. The VC of Projects and Innovation tracks ongoing high value care activities in the health system to facilitate resident project engagement year over year, while also building relationships within the local healthcare startup community to create opportunities to engage with product design. The VC of Research mentors residents on disseminating their work in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and meetings. Additionally, council members participate in patient safety and resident training committees sponsored by both health system administration and Graduate Medical Education (GME). Membership is drawn from across GME specialties.
Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first housestaff council in the nation explicitly focused on catalyzing housestaff involvement in HVC activities and innovations design. We build upon the experience of existing housestaff quality and safety councils by broadening our mandate, allowing trainees to gain additional skills and experience beyond the core principles of quality and safety by partnering with institutional leadership and innovators in the community.