Real-World Healthcare Innovation in Action

Progress in healthcare starts with bold ideas and human-centered thinking. At NRC Health’s Human Understanding Beyond | HUB25, the Poster Presentation Reception brought together real-world examples of how health systems are tackling today’s challenges with compassion, data, and design thinking. Here’s a closer look at the projects that inspired attendees—and what they reveal about the future of care.

Teddy Bear Hospital: Turning Fear into Familiarity 

Kentucky Children’s Hospital partnered with community organizations to create an immersive event where children role-played as caregivers using real medical equipment. This initiative transformed anxiety into confidence, helping families build trust in healthcare environments early in life. 

Engaging Frontline Leaders in Service Recovery 

Premier Health redesigned service recovery by shifting accountability from patient-relations reps to frontline leaders. Through 521 leader trainings, standardized KPIs for alert closure, and NRC Health tools embedded in daily huddles, the system embraced the mantra, 
“We are all caregivers.”

The result? Faster resolutions, a stronger culture, and improved patient trust. 

Journey-Mapping the Obstetric Experience 

Sanford Health applied Plan-Do-Study-Act principles to map the OB journey across trimesters and inpatient care. After pausing to refine its approach, the team launched stage-specific MyChart surveys to capture patient voice before resuming in-person observations, ensuring that improvements reflect what matters most to mothers and families. 

Personalizing Consumer Access 

Main Line Health leveraged consumer personas to modernize scheduling and digital access. Results included: 

• A 33% increase in online scheduling 
• $1.5 million in operational savings 
• 7,589 SMS reschedules (51% after-hours)

By meeting patients where they are—through MyChart, SMS, and centralized scheduling—the system delivered convenience without compromising care. 

Reducing No-Shows through Real-Time Insights 

Lehigh Valley Health Network combined community surveys with real-time feedback to uncover barriers to appointment attendance. Patients who completed no-show surveys were significantly more likely to return for follow-up care, proving that listening isn’t just good practice—it drives measurable engagement. 

Beyond AI: Designing Digital Experiences with Families 

Nemours Children’s Health involved patients and families in shaping three tech-forward initiatives, applying human-centered design to ensure their digital tools felt personal, intuitive, and trustworthy. 

LEaP: Leader, Employee, and Patient Experience 

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles launched the LEaP initiative to combat burnout and strengthen engagement. Monthly well-being activities, leadership skill-building sessions, and recognition programs created a ripple effect: leaders felt supported, staff felt valued, and NRC patient experience scores improved. 

Leadership Rounding for Impact 

Kaiser Permanente standardized senior-leader rounding during a daily “Golden Hour.” Units with higher completion rates saw improved HCAHPS and “Would Recommend” scores, with Redwood City ranking in the 90th percentile. Beyond metrics, patients reported feeling seen and heard—a powerful reminder that leadership visibility matters. 

Empowerment over Guilt: Preventing Newborn Falls 

AdventHealth Heart of Florida introduced a fatigue-awareness tool and prevention bundle to help caregivers self-identify risk and co-create action plans with staff. Since implementation, newborn falls have decreased and near-miss reporting has improved—turning guilt into empowerment. 

Transforming Pediatric ED Experience 

Children’s of Alabama improved ED experience through sensory-friendly spaces, volunteer engagement, and workflow redesign. Outcomes included a 12.8-point NPS increase, reduced LWBS from 4% to 1.7%, and national recognition for excellence in patient experience. 

Environmental Services as Experience-Makers 

Penn State Health reframed housekeeping as a strategic driver of patient experience. Standardized cleaning protocols, simulation-lab retraining, and compliance rounding boosted scores across units and reduced turnover—proving that reliability and cleanliness are core to trust. 

Emerging Themes: What These Posters Tell Us About Healthcare’s Future 

Across these initiatives, four themes consistently surfaced: 

• Safety and Quality as a Foundation for Trust
  Projects like AdventHealth’s newborn-falls prevention and Penn State Health’s environmental-services overhaul remind us that safety isn’t just clinical—it’s experiential. Clean rooms, fatigue-awareness tools, and sensory-friendly spaces build confidence and reduce harm. 
• Access and Convenience as Loyalty Drivers
  Main Line Health’s digital front door and LVHN’s no-show insights prove that convenience matters. When patients can schedule online, reschedule via SMS, and trust the reminders they receive, they’re more likely to engage and return. 
• Leadership and Culture as Catalysts for Change
  From Kaiser Permanente’s Golden Hour rounding to Premier Health’s service-recovery transformation, leadership visibility and accountability drive measurable improvements in patient trust and staff engagement. 
• Patient Voice and Design Thinking as Innovation Engines
  Sanford Health’s OB journey-mapping and Nemours’s digital experience design show that listening at scale—through surveys, personas, and co-design—creates solutions that resonate with real needs. 

Why These Projects Matter 

Across every initiative, one truth stands out: data must serve people, not the other way around. Whether it’s fatigue tools, MyChart surveys, or leadership rounding, these projects show that empathy and evidence can coexist—and that when they do, outcomes improve for patients, families, and staff alike. 

HUB25 proved that Human Understanding can be operationalized through intentional strategy. At HUB26, we’ll build on this momentum, bringing together leaders who blend evidence, empathy, and execution to create systems worthy of trust. 

Join the HUB26 waitlist, and be part of the next wave of patient-centered innovation.