This summer I worked for the HHS Idea Lab and Office of Business Management and Transformation and specifically in the Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) program. The Idea Lab focuses on supporting internal innovation within HHS. The EIR program leverages external partnerships to complete high risk, high reward healthcare projects with internal teams across HHS operating divisions. I worked to create a value and process based evaluation of this program to express the impact it has had on HHS to the next departmental leadership and improve the program administration in the future. I was also involved in internal consulting to State Innovation Groups and medical innovation and healthcare maker movement conferences.

During the summer I designed an EIR program logic model and evaluation goals and methodology from scratch. My evaluation uses case study interviews and surveying. I crafted questionnaires and interviewed the members of 5 representative project teams and created a survey sent to 100+ participants to analyze the EIR program's value in terms of the impact and riskiness of the project and the mentorship and career development the team members received. I coded interview transcripts and analyzed the survey responses and developed methods to optimize the program's applicant and administrative processes. I transitioned incoming employees to carry through this work. At the end of the summer I presented my evaluation approach and findings to the HHS Chief Technology Officer and senior leadership. The evaluation results captured the EIR Program's value for the next departmental administration and strategically planned for the program's development and future expansion. The EIR Program taught me how external entrepreneurs can effectively disrupt and improve the culture of existing healthcare programs. I learned how physicians and entrepreneurs can work together with HHS to reengineer healthcare IT and data systems with realtime inputs and patient centered design.