The need to better manage costs while improving quality, safety and patient outcomes is driving the push for innovation in health care.

Americans spend more on health care per person than residents of many developed nations, yet patient outcomes and public health measures, such as average life span and infant mortality, are no better and often worse than countries that spend less.

We really see what is driving innovation is a quest for better value, said Beth A. Bortz, president and CEO of the Virginia Center for Health Innovation. The center is a public-private partnership formed to accelerate the adoption of value-driven models of wellness and health care.

Its not necessarily that we are spending the wrong amount, Bortz said. We might be spending the right amount, but we dont feel that we are getting the value.

The Virginia Center for Health Innovation has collected more than 350 examples of innovations in its online database, the Virginia Health Innovation Network.

In June, health care innovation will be the focus of a two-day conference in Richmond presented by the Virginia Center for Health Innovation, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and other partners.

People can come and sort of do a one-stop shop, to see what are the (health) plans doing, what are the health systems doing, what are some of the technology companies doing, Bortz said.

Were bringing in a number of new venture capital groups that are investing in health care startups to talk about what do they see and why should we care, what are the most promising things that they are identifying.

Innovation in health care takes many forms: new treatments, new drugs, new technology, new process or ways of doing things. Here are two examples.

Taking control

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Quality, safety and patient outcomes drive health care innovation