Reimagining primary care with Advocate Aurora Health

A conversation with Nicole Paulk, senior vice president for strategy and innovation at Advocate Aurora Health

What will primary care look like in the future?

Last month, Advocate Aurora Health and MATTER launched an innovation challenge to inspire, explore and source novel solutions that create new possibilities for patients and their primary care providers. Advocate Aurora Health Senior Vice President Nicole Paulk and other members of the health system’s innovation team recently joined us to talk about the challenge with the MATTER community.

We followed up with Nicole to learn more about Advocate Aurora Health’s approach to innovation and to get her advice to startups interested in partnering with the health system.

At the Q&A session, one of your colleagues mentioned that with the merger, your innovation team has done the “forming, storming and norming thing” — something a lot of new ventures will understand! I’m curious where you’ve landed: What is the core mission of Advocate Aurora Health’s innovation team?
At Advocate Aurora Health, we view innovation as a core capability to execute our strategic plan. We have three major areas of focus for innovation: 1) develop a pipeline of new ideas to support our strategic initiatives; 2) employ tools and resources to solve business and customer problems; and 3) build, invest in and partner with new businesses and services.

The theme of this year’s Health Tech Venture Challenge is “reimagining primary care.” Why is primary care a focus for Advocate Aurora Health?
Our purpose as a not-for-profit health system is to help people live well. Primary care is an essential component of delivering on our purpose. We provide three million primary care visits a year and this service is the first point of access for most patients into our health system. Reinventing primary care will allow us to provide a better consumer and caregiver experience and support the needs of consumers throughout their health journeys.

As the model shifts towards outpatient care, where do you see the biggest opportunities for technology to better support both patients and clinicians?
One important opportunity is enabling care delivery where it is most appropriate and convenient for the consumer. Another is augmenting routine clinical tasks and decision-making, which enhances productivity and allows caregivers to operate at top of license. A third area is supporting consumer engagement in their own care and connection to community resources.

As you mentioned during the challenge Q&A session, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for primary care. How are you thinking about segmentation?
We view segmentation through several lenses. In addition to more traditional demographics and health status, we are interested in psychographic factors that affect consumers’ attitudes regarding healthcare. We also seek to develop a deeper understanding of consumers’ goals for their own health over time.

Why is Advocate Aurora Health interested in collaborating with startups?
We are seeking novel solutions to the challenges facing our industry and we recognize that startups are a great source for those solutions. Moreover, we are interested in supporting the larger innovation and startup ecosystem in Chicago and beyond.

What advice do you have for startups interested in partnering with Advocate Aurora Health? What are the keys to a successful collaboration?
The key to any successful partnership is to ensure that both parties are focused on the same goals and share similar values. Startups who partner with us should develop an understanding of the unique opportunities and challenges facing our industry. At the same time, they should encourage us to think differently and to operate more nimbly within the constraints of our environment.

Applications for the Health Tech Venture Challenge are due Monday, November 12.

Other questions? Read the challenge FAQ or contact info@matter.health.