Healthcare Innovation Initiative | McCombs School of Business

Health Care + Innovation = McCombs

Austin, Texas from a plane window by Roanna Flowers

We're lucky to live in a city like Austin, where everything still seems possible - even a better health care system.

We care about the people of Texas and about doing real work to make an actual difference in their lives, from the future generations we teach to the community we serve. And we measure our success by the contributions we make to society and the world at large.

Our Calling

We care about all people having access to safe, affordable health care. Our Value Institute for Health and Care with UT's Dell Medical School is changing the way we think about delivering care and building healthy lives with person-centered measurements for a better quality of life and dignity in death.

Our work and mission are rooted in The Triple Aim: improving the experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing per capita costs. We do this by looking at systems improvement and innovation, improved teamwork and sensemaking, and tech that helps, not hinders, health care delivery, all while reducing waste and cost.

There are now 15 researchers on our faculty who are actively working in or interested in health care, with two new faculty members pending for 2018-2019.

Our Students

They're What Change Looks Like

We're excited about the future. Pardon the pun, but we're feeling pretty bullish about it. Why? Our students.

The Business of Healthcare

In 2016, we started the Business of Healthcare Certificate Program, open to all undergraduate majors, and in just two short years it has become the 2nd largest certificate on the 40 Acres. Our students are among the best and brightest on The University of Texas campus, and they are looking to make a difference. Future health care professionals in our program are getting an early exposure to the business side of their future from one of the top business schools in the country. Our students in business, liberal arts, communication, and engineering are learning about the health care ecosystem and the opportunities for innovation at every level of the system.

The Texas MBA Healthcare Series

Our Texas MBA Healthcare Series, part of the full-time Texas MBA program, focuses on innovation, ecosystem, and analytics. It includes three courses taught by award-winning Texas McCombs faculty, one in partnership with UT Dell Med's Texas Health Catalyst, and a pharma innovation and commercialization course in partnership with the College of Pharmacy's Drug Dynamics Institute.

Campus to Community

Engaged, Involved

Campus to Community

We have over 15 community projects pairing our best and brightest graduate and undergraduate students with local and regional health care providers to work on real-world issues in real-time. These providers include Dell Med clinics, Dell Children's Medical Center, the new Dell-Seton Medical Center, and charity clinics in central Texas. Here's just a few of the projects we had this semester:

Survey patients' understanding of in-room technology (Dell-Seton)
Decrease adverse events related to opioids (Dell-Seton)
Adolescent medical clinic ROI (Dell Children's)
Survey support with the RBJ Geriatric Center (UT LBJ School of Public Affairs)
Time studies for clinics (Dell Medical School)
Volunteer manual and training video (Hope Medical Clinic)
Marketing and branding United Health Partners' services and programs (UHP, Houston)

We are always on the lookout for real-world problems for our students to work on, either as practicum projects in our Healthcare Management or Social Entrepreneurship courses or as summer internships.

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