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A paradigm shift has taken place regarding innovation and learning in healthcare. In the past, one or several doctors, usually within the same institution, collaborated and developed new concepts or ideas and then tested them at their institution. Following the initial testing, the initial concept or prototype was modified, followed by incremental small improvements until the final product, concept, or procedure was ready for clinical testing. The traditional method of drug testing was the methodical transition from the test tube to phase 1 clinical testing, showing no harm to the human subjects, followed by phase 2 and phase 3- evaluating whether a new treatment works for a specific medical condition and then comparing the treatment against the previous standard of care for that condition or disease. The process of moving from the test tube or prototype to the marketplace takes many years and may require $1 billion of research and development for a new drug. Today, the entire process of innovation can be significantly shortened, with less expense, and a shorter timeline for development. This article discusses a new method of collaboration among multiple disciplines and even multiple institutions that will improve diagnosis, treatment, and management, and even enhance patient compliance and convenience regarding their medical care.
KEY WORDS: Technology; stakeholders; innovation; hackables; product implementation; crowd sourcing.
Many stakeholders often are included in moving an innovation from ground zero to the marketplace. In healthcare, these include physicians, patients, nurses, academic institutions, institutional review board oversight, engineers, IT personnel, software developers, human-centered designers, payers, coding experts-and let's not forget the government! Corralling all of these stakeholders can seem almost insurmountable, much like herding cats. However, now there is a new method of harnessing all of the knowledge that is potentially available to accomplish an innovation project-or even come up with innovative solutions to common healthcare dilemmas.
The process of translating innovation into clinical care improvements is difficult, risky, expensive, and poorly understood. Many clinicians who identify healthcare problems do not have the time or expertise to solve the problems, and, on the other side of the coin, many academic researchers and technologists are unaware of the important gaps in clinical care to which their expertise may apply.1
Healthcare is at the intersection of disruptive innovation...