Many innovations are being developed in health care, such as new care methodologies, guidelines or new technologies. Nivel is following these innovations. For several years, for instance, it has been charting the introduction of video communication in home care – between clients at home and the home care agency – whilst keeping an eye on the experiences of patients, home care professionals and managers.

There is often a gap between ‘knowledge’ and ‘action’ where innovations are concerned. Usually examples of best practice are already known, for instance for the tackling of waiting lists or medication faults, but it takes years to spread these best practices. The causes of this are complex and diverse. The problem could be that too little time, knowledge, expertise or financial means are available to tackle the problem, but another possible hindrance could be an aversion to change and the disruption of routine. It is known from a great many studies which factors can hamper the implementation of health care innovations. New research is geared towards the most effective strategies for a more successful and particularly a more lasting implementation of innovations. Beside classic strategies such as training and reminders, incidentally new strategies, geared towards social interaction and leadership, are developed as well. Following up on this, NIVEL is seeking to answer the question how improvements could be guaranteed and spread out. The spearheads of the research into health care innovations are: the appraisal of implementation programmes, efficiency studies, studies of the factors that hamper and the factors that boost implementation, and the influence the working environment has on compliance with guidelines and agreements.

For this research topic, the researchers are collaborating with external experts amongst others, such as health care economists.