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Hospital Innovation Programs Directory

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Health system intelligence profile

Innovation Accelerator Program, Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation

Penn Medicine (University of Pennsylvania Health System)

Editorially verified · Last reviewed August 30, 2026

Intelligence summary

Program at a Glance

Program mandate
Penn Medicine's Innovation Accelerator Program supports faculty physicians and staff who want to design, test and scale new approaches to healthcare delivery. Teams move through four defined phases: Phase One over six months validates that an idea might work, with training, mentorship and up to $10,000; Phase Two over up to a year proves the idea does work at larger scale with up to $50,000; Phase Three operationalizes the intervention across Penn Medicine with sustainable infrastructure; and Phase Four supports adoption by other health systems.
Organizational model
Academic · Nonprofit
Location
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Program types
Physician innovationAcceleratorInnovation center
Commercialization pathways
Strategic partnership
Focus areas
ClinicalOperational
Public scale or maturity signals

Documented successes: More than 30 projects funded since inception; named programs that came out of the accelerator include Advanced Heart Care at Home, CORE (opioid recovery), Healing at Home, and SOAR (hospital-to-home transitions for older adults); phased funding structure provides up to $10,000 in Phase One and up to $50,000 in Phase Two

Official engagement route
Program website ↗Health system website ↗
Last reviewed
August 30, 2026

Mandate and remit

What This Program Does

Penn Medicine's Innovation Accelerator Program supports faculty physicians and staff who want to design, test and scale new approaches to healthcare delivery. Teams move through four defined phases: Phase One over six months validates that an idea might work, with training, mentorship and up to $10,000; Phase Two over up to a year proves the idea does work at larger scale with up to $50,000; Phase Three operationalizes the intervention across Penn Medicine with sustainable infrastructure; and Phase Four supports adoption by other health systems. The program is run out of the Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation and pairs clinical teams with designers, data scientists and implementation staff. Proposal calls run every one to two years.

Areas of Focus

ClinicalOperational

Commercialization Pathways

These routes appear in the program's sourced public record.

Strategic partnership

Publicly Reported Outcomes

  • Documented successes

    More than 30 projects funded since inception; named programs that came out of the accelerator include Advanced Heart Care at Home, CORE (opioid recovery), Healing at Home, and SOAR (hospital-to-home transitions for older adults); phased funding structure provides up to $10,000 in Phase One and up to $50,000 in Phase Two

Leadership and Structure

Organizational home: Innovation Accelerator Program, Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation, Penn Medicine (University of Pennsylvania Health System)

  • Raina Merchant — Chief Transformation Officer, Penn Medicine

Contact the Program

Use the program's published contact route for partnership, licensing, innovation, or program inquiries.

Official contact page
Open contact page ↗

Related Programs

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Jefferson Health / Thomas Jefferson University

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Jefferson Innovation is the entrepreneurial and commercialization organization spanning Jefferson Health and Thomas Jefferson University.

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Academic · Nonprofit

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jefferson Health / Thomas Jefferson University

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Jefferson Ventures is the commercialization hub for Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, connecting clinicians, scientists and students with industry and strategic collaborators.

Technology transferVenture studioInnovation centerLicenseSpinoutClinicalWorkforce

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Editorially verified · Reviewed August 30, 2026

Same state · Same program type · Same commercialization route

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Penn Medicine (University of Pennsylvania Health System)

Penn Health-Tech

Penn Health-Tech is a University of Pennsylvania center, established around 2017, that connects innovators across Penn Medicine and Penn's engineering and business schools to advance medical devices and healthcare technology.

AcceleratorInnovation centerEntrepreneurshipInvestmentStrategic partnershipClinicalMedical deviceWorkforce

Academic · Nonprofit

Read the intelligence brief

Editorially verified · Reviewed August 30, 2026

Same state · Same program type · Same commercialization route

Sources and Updates

Reviewed August 30, 2026. External source links open in a new tab.

  1. Innovation Accelerator Program, Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation official source ↗ — chti.upenn.edu. Accessed August 30, 2026.
  2. Innovation Accelerator Program, Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation source 2 ↗ — chti.upenn.edu. Accessed August 30, 2026.
  3. Innovation Accelerator Program, Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation source 3 ↗ — pci.upenn.edu. Accessed August 30, 2026.
  4. Innovation Accelerator Program, Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation source 4 ↗ — chti.upenn.edu. Accessed August 30, 2026.

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