Harnessing Innovation for the Future of Healthcare

Located in Detroit and across Southeast Michigan, Henry Ford Health is an academic 5-hospital health system, integrated with a wholly owned payor called Health Alliance Plan. Founded by Henry Ford himself, the system prides itself on a legacy of providing equitable and high-quality patient care, driven by a culture of innovation. Spanning over 200 care sites, the system caters to a diverse patient population, including those in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Backed by a medical group comprising 2,000 physicians, Henry Ford Health encourages regular innovation projects among physicians, researchers, nurses, and team members.

In 2012, Henry Ford Innovations was established with a vision to advance patient care by harnessing the collective intellect of its team members, which is already demonstrated in their daily practice. The core question that drove Henry Ford Health was, “What if we could apply our knowhow in a different context to shape the future of technology?” Initially established as a traditional Technology Transfer Office, Henry Ford Innovations quickly grew its offerings to include identifying and investing in the brightest minds within the health system. Their goal was to unearth new ideas, processes, discoveries, and inventions that could be protected and then commercialized under a licensing model.

As the Innovations team grew and evolved, we started receiving inquiries from external entities. Startups and established companies with innovative technologies approached Henry Ford, seeking access to lab space, feedback from relevant subject matter experts, and de-identified data to enhance their industry solutions with real-world evidence. By facilitating interactions between end-users and corporate or startup entities at the earliest stages of development, Henry Ford Health enables these groups to shape the technology in ways that ensure efficacy and relevance. Ultimately, the companies that acquire these technologies stand to benefit from the valuable input received during these collaborations.

There are two main vehicles through which Henry Ford Innovations will administer these collaborations with its intellectual assets: 1) licensing and incubation and 2) collaboration agreements. The licensing and incubation model, rooted in the foundation of the technology transfer section of Henry Ford Innovations, is frequently applied to early-stage startups. This model provides crucial support to startups through access to assets such as knowhow, data, and even the use of trademarks to develop, commercialize, and market these new technologies. These resources are often scarce for startups, making strategic partnerships via intellectual property licensing mutually beneficial. In these models, financial benefits are realized by the healthcare partner downstream either through royalties, equity, milestone payments or a combination thereof. The financially supportive options for agreements reduce barriers to entry for capital scarce startups. However, companies with financial capital and resourcing have the opportunity to initiate pilots that can validate their innovative products. Commonly these companies have developed a prototype, but it’s not yet ready for or suitable for a full clinical research trial. Subject matter experts are just as engaged with the technology and help shape its use case while collecting the necessary data and information to create a market-ready product. Payment for this model is typically received in the form of cash either up-front or in a milestone structure. 

Health systems benefit from this payment structure due to immediate and liquid assets, while for industry, it provides a simple and “one-time” payment structure compared to downstream alternatives. Ultimately, HFI leverages the flexibility of its non-profit status to provide collaboration opportunities to organizations both large and small. The end goal Henry Ford Innovations is to facilitate pilots, at fair market value, thereby accelerating the launch of next-generation technologies that support patients and providers.

Aside from the exciting work the institution leads via pilots and corporate collaborations, HFI has a heavy focus on our mission-based work. These aim to generate non-economic value for the health system and community, propelling the health system’s larger mission of being an equitable, high-quality healthcare delivery provider and community partner.

Notably, Henry Ford Innovations has a large anatomical 3D printing program. The 3D prints replicate patient anatomy (not for surgical use) for use in pre-procedural planning and education for both patients and care providers in training. Thousands of 3D prints have been produced for several health areas including cardiology, orthopedics, neurology, cancer, and general surgery. Beneficiaries of this program have seen decreased procedure time and time under anesthesia, and improved identification of unique anatomy and potential complications before a procedure occurs.

Additionally, HF conducts community engagements with local Detroit churches to promote best public health practices, such as educating residents on the importance of annual checkups, screenings, and staying up to date on their vaccinations. By partnering with various organizations such as churches, HFI extends its reach and impact to underserved communities, working towards improving overall community health.

Furthermore, HFI also offers the Davidson Fellowship, an education program that spans nine months and focus on teaching the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Health system employees apply to the program, where admittance translates to monthly classes coupled with an action-based learning project, where teams are assembled to identify and solve real-world issues through entrepreneurship. At the end of the course, program graduates pitch their solutions to a panel for feedback, further development, and ideally, eventual implementation into the Health System. These non-revenue generating activities provide immense benefit to both internal and external stakeholders and the communities they serve.

In conclusion, Henry Ford Health is rooted in its passion and culture of innovation, which prioritizes the use of innovation to deliver high-quality, safe healthcare to all. The Innovation program is the testbed for next generation technologies, leveraging various functions and disciplines to advance the System’s mission and fulfill its commitment to patients and providers by using the knowledge it already owns for new and unique ways to improve healthcare outcomes.