4 ways Stephen Klasko is making Jefferson a hotbed of health innovation

October 27, 2015

Mo Manklang, Technical.ly Philadelphia

Impossible is not a fact. It is an opinion. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.

Stephen Klasko does not like the word impossible, and he has brought this ideology of innovation to Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health as president and CEO.

The organizations have been making big changes in the past few years, both inside and outside. From locking up naming rights to its nearby SEPTA station to the latest technology in booking appointments, Jefferson wants to be known for innovation.

Klasko spoke at last week’s Greater Philadelphia Leadership Exchange, and we left with these four takeaways:

• Appointments made easy: Jefferson is implementing a new way to followup with your doctor: a video session, eliminating the need to travel. This new progress in telehealth allows doctors to work with patients more efficiently, saving time and money as well as creating a better experience for the patient.

• Health is all we do: Klasko’s “overriding vision” for health and health education is to make the focus on health — something that really shouldn’t be so revolutionary. This includes not just high test scores among Jefferson students, but also emotional ability evaluation — they want their doctors to have the best bedside manner around.

• Medicine + Design: Jefferson is working with Princeton University’s design and engineering students, who will be guaranteed admission to Jefferson as way of developing creative physicians.

• IRL SEO: Klasko’s book, The Phantom Stethoscope, sold 50,000 copies because it came up in the “If you might like this, you might also like” section of Amazon’s listing of Harry Potter books.