Electronic Health Reporter

Intermountain Healthcare and Healthbox have announced the launch of their unique healthcare innovation and venture model that harnesses internal creativity and external disruption. While the physical structure for this endeavor is being developed in Salt Lake City adjacent to the system’s flagship medical center, the Innovation at Intermountain initiative is already stimulating collaboration between inventors, entrepreneurs and healthcare industry experts alike to improve quality and service while making care more affordable.

Intermountain is an internationally recognized, integrated delivery system spanning 22 hospitals and 185 physician clinics. For decades, the organization has consistently set the standard for excellence in care affordability and quality outcomes, focusing on becoming a “model healthcare system.” In today’s environment, this translates into pushing the boundaries of established practice and forming meaningful relationships with the entrepreneurial community inside and outside of the healthcare system, testing powerful new ideas inside the organization and learning to be an early adopter of outside solutions.

“Over my tenure, I have been increasingly impressed with the innovative ideas coming from Intermountain Healthcare’s physicians and employees that hold the potential to lead us into the next era of healthcare delivery,” says Bert Zimmerli, Intermountain Healthcare’s Chief Financial Officer. “We have a responsibility to always improve the healthcare available to the communities we serve. Collaborating with Healthbox provides us not only with the foundation to expand the impact of their solutions but the means to form relationships with entrepreneurs and their technologies that will improve quality and reduce the cost of care for our patients.”

Through this new model, Healthbox will lead three new initiatives:

1. The Intermountain Foundry provides a structured framework for help high-potential employee ideas and near-market concepts become commercial businesses.
2. Strategic Investments will source companies from the broader healthcare ecosystem and develop partnerships that include investment and potential customer relationships.
3. The Healthbox Salt Lake City Accelerator, which launched in September in partnership with Health Equity, Zion’s Bank and BD, brings the Healthbox infrastructure to Salt Lake, connecting the resources and expertise throughout the region to support outside entrepreneurs with progressive products at various stages of their development.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to work with Intermountain Healthcare on this strategic initiative. Healthbox is a pipeline of innovation for the industry, supporting the growth of sustainable businesses in healthcare,” says Nina Nashif, founder and CEO of Healthbox. “Through this partnership we can focus on achieving real results through true systemic implementation.”

About Healthbox

Healthbox is the preeminent source of healthcare innovation and drives actionable collaboration between inventors, entrepreneurs and the healthcare industry. Healthbox accelerators offer serious entrepreneurs the candid, unparalleled healthcare industry access and insight needed to succeed in a complex marketplace. We also partner with leading healthcare organizations to advance a culture of idea generation, business creation and external collaboration. With operations in five key markets across the United States in addition to London and Tel Aviv, Healthbox is building a strong, global community dedicated to driving change in healthcare. Healthbox has a portfolio of more than 80 active companies and strategic partnerships with more than 30 healthcare organizations.

About Intermountain Healthcare

Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based not-for-profit system of 22 hospitals, 185 clinics, a Medical Group with about 1,100 employed physicians, a health plans division called SelectHealth, and other health services. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare through high quality and sustainable costs.