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The VHA Innovators Network (iNET) is a community of VAMCs around the country united to empower frontline VA employees to design innovative solutions. These employees are guided by a select group of Innovations Specialists who provide mentorship, facilitate local programming, lead local and national events, and connect employees with the resources they need to design, develop, and test their own solutions.
Innovation Specialist of the Year is awarded to a Specialist who has demonstrated exceptional skills and inspired change through their everyday work. Finalists are chosen by iNET leadership, and the winner is voted on by their peers. The following three employees were nominated for the 2024 Innovation Specialist of the Year Award:
Stephanie Brown is the Innovation Specialist at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, SC. Stephanie joined the iNET team in December 2022 in what many consider the most challenging of circumstances—she was new to VA and her site was new to iNET. Stephanie applied her background in human-centered design and previous experience managing a medical innovation program to quickly become a powerful influencer at her site and in her community, building her local program into one of the strongest in our network. Her efforts are being noticed; her site was recognized as one of Becker's Healthcare Top 34 Hospitals and Health Systems in the U.S. with an innovation program in late 2023. Stephanie is also quickly becoming a leader within iNET nationally and a trusted innovation guide to the Innovation Specialist community.
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Jamie Key is the Innovation Specialist at the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, AL and iNET’s Collaboration Designer for fiscal year 2024. Jamie has been working hard to grow her local program since joining iNET in 2022. This year those efforts paid off with six projects accepted into the Spark-Seed-Spread Innovation Investment Program, the most in the past several years. The Collaboration Designer role is a one-year detail that provides an Innovation Specialist with the chance to work closely with iNET leadership. Jamie has met the responsibilities of this challenging role head-on, building upon the success of past Innovation Specialists who have served in this role while making thoughtful improvements that have added tremendous value to iNET's Greenhouse program. Jamie serves as a mentor within her fellow Innovation Specialist team and a valuable voice within the greater VHA Innovation Ecosystem.
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Liz Johnson is the Innovation Specialist at the Dayton VA Medical Center and iNET’s “Rookie of the Year.” As a first year Specialist within a very busy VISN 10, Liz has proven to be an up-and-coming leader in the newest set of Innovation Specialists. She has approached every part of her job with enthusiasm and gusto. She leapt into facilitating programming, burst onto the communication and outreach scene in her community, and has stepped up within her VISN to support employees and her fellow Innovation Specialists.
The Innovation Specialist of the Year will be announced during iNET’s Graduation Day in August and awarded in-person at the 2024 VHA Innovation Experience in Chicago, IL this October.
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Join Dave Brimmer from the VHA Innovation Ecosystem on September 10th as he discusses how innovators can utilize VA Pathfinder to enhance veteran healthcare. VA Pathfinder provides a unique opportunity to work with the VA and bring about meaningful change in veteran healthcare. This efficient platform fosters innovation and collaboration, removing barriers for businesses seeking to collaborate with VA. |
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Originally developed in January 2012 at Eugene J. Towbin Healthcare Center in North Little Rock, AR, ACP-GV supports caregiver teams by facilitating structured group discussions about advance care planning; encouraging participants to identify the next steps to take in the process of planning for future health care needs. The program helps caregivers manage the many complexities of their roles, enabling Veterans to make informed health care decisions while offering improved choices and timeliness to advance care planning discussions in medically underserved rural areas.
Following success at the local level in VISN 16, ACP-GV entered the inaugural VHA Shark Tank Competition in 2019, where it earned the opportunity to replicate to VA facilities across the country. ACP-GV participants are twice as likely to complete advance directive forms when compared to those in traditional, one-on-one ACP conversations; with 90% of program participants reporting an increase in knowledge through the groups. Today, ACP-GV operates at 71 VA facilities across the country. Learn more about the program on VHA Social Work's website here.
Curious about the first VHA Shark Tank Competition? Read about the inception here in a VA News article from 2016.
To learn more about VHA Shark Tank and view the full list of 2024 finalists, visit VHA Shark Tank on Diffusion Marketplace.
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The VA Light Electronic Action Framework (VA LEAF) earned a nomination for this year’s FedScoop 50 – Innovation of the Year Award! This annual award celebrates cutting-edge applications of technology that have improved traditional government operations and processes for an enhanced impact. VA LEAF, a previous VHA Shark Tank Competition winner, is an internal platform for digitizing multilayered, time-consuming processes. VA LEAF, built by VA for VA, empowers non-technical users to implement workflows and digital forms that can provide faster turnaround and greater transparency, while still maintaining national standardization and status trafficking.
VA LEAF needs your support to secure this award. The winner of this award is based on the number of votes received, and your participation can make a difference! Diffusion of Excellence encourages you to take a moment to cast your vote for VA LEAF as Innovation of the Year.
To vote, visit the FedScoop 50 page, scroll down to the Innovation of the Year section, and select VA LEAF.
Voting will be open until September 16, with winners announced on September 23. For more information about VA LEAF, visit the VA LEAF page on SharePoint (note: this page is internal to VA).
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Each Thursday throughout June, experts in social isolation convened virtually for the VA Social Connection Workshop Series. On June 6, 13, 20, and 27, attendees gathered to discuss the profound impact of loneliness on Veteran health. Lori Murphy, a Senior Social Worker at VA Central Ohio Health Care System and 2024 VHA Innovation Ecosystem Fellow, was the creator and lead organizer of the event. The series began with a focus on the latest innovations in social connections, social prescribing, and emphasized the importance of avoiding silos within the VA community.
“It can be easy for providers who work in social isolation to miss connections with other providers and the work they are doing,” Murphy noted. “This series is intended to tap into our collective wisdom and spark new connections and possibilities.”
Throughout the series, attendees of all four sessions started an average of 8.62 conversations per person. There was an average of 174.25 interactions throughout the whole series, a combination of reactions and chats sent. All four sessions totaled 1,401 relationships started, averaging over 350 per session, thus achieving the goal of facilitating connections among innovators in social isolation.
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