New Partnership Makes Healthcare Innovation a Community Strategy

Ballad Health and the East Tennessee State University Research Corporation are launching the Appalachian Highlands Rural Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance, which aims to combine healthcare research and innovation with community resources

A new collaboration in the Appalachian Highlands is integrating healthcare innovation with the local economy, thereby making the path forward a community endeavor.

Ballad Health and the East Tennessee State University Research Corporation are launching the Appalachian Highlands Rural Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance, which will “coordinate multiple local and national areas of research and idea development, particularly impacting the delivery of healthcare, through surveilling efforts, accelerating early-stage development, translating research into business opportunities and identifying scalable opportunities for investment, ultimately reshaping the overall economy, health and well-being of the region.”

Ballad Health’s network includes 21 hospitals, post-acute care and behavioral health facilities and a large multi-specialty group practice covering 29 counties across parts of Tennessee, Virginia, Nort Carolina, and Kentucky.

“When we created Ballad Health, we made a commitment that this new organization would leverage the regional strength of the Appalachian Highlands, reaching across all our communities in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia to enhance opportunities to turn good ideas into thriving businesses and economic opportunity,” Ballad Health Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alan Levine said in a press release. “This center will not only leverage good local ideas into business opportunities for the region, but it will attract ideas from all over the world, which will support the enhancement of healthcare delivery and innovation, while also creating an ecosystem for those transformative ideas to grow and be put into practice all over the world.”

The partnership takes the typical digital health incubator one step further, so that healthcare innovation and delivery are integrated with the community.

It also builds on an existing relationship between the health system and the schools that has seen the launch of the Center for Rural Health and Research at ETSU, the Ballad Health Strong BRAIN Institute and Center for Trauma Informed Care, and the Appalachian Highlands Center for Nursing Advancement.

“Ultimately, the Appalachian Highlands Rural Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance will result in an interactive rural cooperative, and as the alliance grows, we expect new companies to anchor their operations in the Appalachian Highlands as they take advantage of the unique environment to create life- and industry-changing equipment, systems and technologies,” Tony Keck, executive vice president of system transformation at Ballad Health, said in the release. “The resulting economic benefit will support the multiple regional efforts to grow the economy, while providing an investment return for those in the region who believe in investing in the region.”

The program also speaks to the challenges faced by health systems across the country in competing for both patients and staff in a much larger ecosystem, which includes telehealth vendors, retailers like Amazon and Google, and even payers that offer their own healthcare services.

“The reality of our situation right now, is that regional employers aren’t just competing with each other for top workforce talent – we’re competing with businesses all over the United States,” added Bo Wilkes, managing director of the Ballad Health Innovation Center and president of Ballad Ventures. “We have a rich culture and history, excellent schools and healthcare and low cost of living, and now, we’re going to have the entrepreneurial alliance that draws in some of the best minds in the country. By all rights, the Appalachian Highlands should be a top destination for workers and families.”