Northwell Ranks Third on Fast Company Most Innovative Health Companies For 2022

NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Northwell Health has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2022, ranking No. 3 among the 10 most innovative health companies of 2022, and the only health system on the list, after placing ninth on the health care sector list in 2020.

Fast Company recognizes businesses making the biggest impact on their industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today’s global environment amid an ever-changing economic climate and the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s list features 528 organizations recognized across 52 categories.

“Northwell has always had an innovative, team-oriented and collaborative culture, but the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 certainly put our health system and staff to the test,” said Michael J. Dowling, president and chief executive officer at Northwell Health. “With New York City being at the epicenter of the pandemic, our 78,000 employees in every department across our health system marshalled their talents to treat a tremendous influx of patients into our facilities as well as keep patients and staff safe. The pandemic allowed us to tap into that culture to deliver new ideas to treat patients and help the communities we serve, from better outcomes to faster testing and equitable access to vaccines.”

Throughout the pandemic, Northwell’s frontline health care workers not only continued to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients, but also collaborated to solve pressing medical problems, conducted clinical trials on a myriad of conditions through the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, innovated laboratory testing for COVID and rolled out extensive employee and community COVID vaccination programs.

With this year’s World’s Most Innovative Companies list, Northwell joins the ranks of Walgreens, Microsoft, SpaceX, Canva and Chipolte and other companies making breakthroughs in their industries to improve the lives of their consumers, across health care, entertainment, financial, education and environmental sectors, among others.

“I’m extremely proud of all our team members whose direct action and caring helped propel Northwell to the top of Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies in the health care sector,” said Maxine Carrington, Northwell’s senior vice president and chief human resources officer. “To achieve this type of global recognition – especially during such unprecedented times in health care – is a testament to our collective creativity and resilience.”

Fast Company reviewed hundreds of companies that distinguished themselves for their innovations and breakthrough ideas over an 18-month span. Some of the notable innovations Northwell Health was recognized for included:

Northwell has treated more than 300,000 COVID-19 patients since March 2020, searching for new life-saving techniques and therapies while innovating when supply chain issues threatened massive disruptions. In April 2020, when ventilators were in short supply, clinicians in our intensive care units started to convert bi-level positive airway pressure machines into ventilators for COVID-19 patients. The machines are used for patients with chronic obstruction lung disease (COPD) or lung injury tied to heart failure.

Northwell’s Innovation Challenge, in its fifth year in 2021, awarded $1.3 million to four innovation projects spearheaded by employees that will transform the health care industry. The winning project was a 3D imaging device to advance care delivery to provide early detection of various pressure injuries. Another winning project in the science category – a collaboration with General Electric – focuses on building a high-intensity ultrasound simulations of the spleen to treat bleeding disorders.

Meanwhile, The Feinstein Institutes for Research, the home of the research institutes at Northwell, received more than $98 million in outside funding to support its studies and clinical trials in 2020 – a new record. To date, The Feinstein Institutes initiated more than 19 COVID-19 clinical trials and collaborated with FitBit as part of a $2.5 million award to develop wearable tech capabilities that can detect COVID-19. The Feinstein Institutes is the global scientific home of bioelectronic medicine and recently received a $1.3 million National Institutes of Health grant to study neuro-immune signaling. Using novel imaging technology, researchers can visualize how the brain and immune systems communicate, which are involved in regulating the functions of our organs in both health and disease.

Northwell’s community outreach efforts played an important role in stymieing the pandemic locally, administering more than 680,000 COVID vaccine doses to date. The health system established town partnerships and engaged faith-based groups, setting up sites to give free vaccines and establishing 100 COVID-19 testing sites throughout the New York metropolitan area. More than 75,000 community members were tested. Northwell expanded its reach to communities of color and underserved populations to bring vaccines and COVID tests where they were needed.

Mr. Dowling’s leadership and strong stance on social issues such as gun violence as a public health crisis as well as racial justice and the opioid epidemic, have catapulted Northwell Health on the national stage to find solutions to these pressing societal issues. Northwell created its Gun Violence Learning Collaborative bringing together healthcare leaders from systems across the country to implement change on how to treat and educate people about gun violence.

For more information on the World’s Most Innovative Companies and top innovative health companies list, go to: https://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/list; https://www.fastcompany.com/90724416/most-innovative-companies-health-2022

About Northwell Health

Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 22 hospitals, 830 outpatient facilities and more than 16,600 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 78,000 employees – 18,900 nurses and 4,900 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We're training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.