Accelerating Healthcare Innovation Report

Healthcare innovation is not easy. Enormous investments have been made by private companies, governments, nonprofits and entrepreneurs, all in the continual search for disruptive ideas that work. Success is never guaranteed and failure is often part of the equation. Whether aiming to change consumer behaviors, develop new technologies or design different business models, the ultimate goal of innovation on healthcare is to make healthcare better and more affordable.

Innovative thinking in healthcare is more than coming up with the next shiny object or edgy technology. Few organizations have starved for ideas; many have drowned trying to change too much too quickly. Innovation is about educating each other. “Awareness is half the challenge,” shared Steve Wretling, our chief technology and innovation officer at HIMSS. “Once you have accomplished that awareness and that conversation is happening on a regular basis, it’s a lot easier to work together to put strategies in place that can influence new or existing programs or new lines of services, which can open up new avenues for creativity.”

A new awareness of the need for innovation in healthcare has been thrust upon the entire world. COVID-19 has accelerated the pace of change in a remarkably short time, some of the change being reactive and some of it proactive. The burning question is how the healthcare industry will proceed post-COVID-19. How will we seize the moment and use the crisis as an opportunity to create those better and more sustainable ways of delivering care?

This report examines some of the most exciting and actionable areas of healthcare innovation—from artificial intelligence and digital health to precision medicine and telehealth. Well before the COVID-19 pandemic, these new technology developments were gaining traction and driving change. But now, more than ever, our world needs innovations that make a difference.

Sachin Jain, with a background as a physician, a health insurance executive, and an analyst in the space said it well. “The real secret in closing the gap between the change and reality layers is in creating a new post-COVID-19 health industry culture where innovation is not viewed as the domain of the few—but as the responsibility of many.”

In the pages of the report you will find the biggest ideas in healthcare today. The challenge before you is making them your own. Anyone can dream that the next new technology will solve all their problems. But sustainable innovation comes from the rigorous identification manageable opportunities for improvement, and the ruthless prioritization of resources to tackle the most important ones. We at HIMSS are honored to join you on your journey.

 

Report Highlights

 

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