Understanding Innovation in the Ontario Health System: A Scoping Review and Survey of Ontario Healthcare Providers

Abstract

There is growing interest in understanding how innovation processes can address current health system challenges. Healthcare constantly needs to adapt, learn, and develop to meet the needs of the elaborate healthcare environment; thus, innovation is increasingly seen as a critical capability for healthcare organizations to accommodate these needs. Understanding the dynamics of innovation in healthcare is not only essential to healthcare professionals but also for policymakers who tend to use innovation policy to stimulate efficiency and contain costs related to healthcare services. Knowledge about innovation in healthcare is scarce, and many studies on innovation in healthcare have focused on specific technologies and specific policies or stakeholders. There are also enduring studies focused on conceptualizing the spread and implementation of innovations. This research addressed the gap related to the understanding of innovation and the social factors that shape cohesion in multiparty innovation in healthcare. This was achieved by contributing theoretical and empirical insights into the hidden features of contextual and social complexity which impact divergent thinking between healthcare professionals and provincial policymakers.