Where does healthcare innovation come from?

An ever-recurring pattern of comments and discussion focuses around “game-changing innovation” or “disruptive technologies” and other buzzwords. In fact one of the stated aims of recently formed AHSN’s is to foster innovation to help the NHS find innovative ways to resolve its funding crisis and creative ways to provide care.

Though it’s well known that smaller, younger and more agile companies tend to innovate more, the question for industry is – where does innovation come from and how can we enable more of it?

Though this article isn’t meant to be exhaustive, I have listed two broad themes that both demonstrate one clear point – technology is the key to unlocking innovation in healthcare

1. Harnessing the power of new technologies – being bold and taking risks.

Some very encouraging developments in recent weeks demonstrate the ability to be leading edge for those companies that want a competitive advantage. For example Novartis has pioneered a Google Glass variation that helps diabetic Glass wearers to measure glucose levels in the wearers' tears and 'help restore the eye's natural autofocus'. You can read more about it here.

While others are working out the impact of Google Glass, Novartis has already taken a bold step with Google. Though time will truly measure its success, this idea could potentially revolutionise the way ophthalmological solutions are administered and this is something to be praised because it pushes the boundaries.

This isn’t limited to Google Glass. GestSure Technologies has developed a device that allows surgeons to navigate patient MRI and CT scans in the operating room while maintaining sterility using Microsoft’s Kinect technology.

Jintronix uses Kinect to track a patient’s movements as he or she performs rehabilitation within a virtual environment, ?increasing accessibility and engagement while lowering cost. The recurring theme is the harnessing of new or emerging technology to solve healthcare problems.

In this vein, one area for consideration is the ability for companies to leverage the vast depth and breadth of healthcare data, link it to other related datasets and create new insights using a Big Data approach. Healthcare is an industry that is ready for the potentially significant transformation that this form of technology can offer with measurable patient benefits, though patient confidentiality and ethical considerations will need to be taken into account.

Of course for every success story there are countless failures, but there only need be one game-changing innovation to make up for several failed attempts. Once the landscape has been altered, the industry is never the same, often for the better. Apple, Google and more controversially, Napster have all demonstrated that companies that take risks and are willing to be bold have the most impact on their respective industries.

2. Existing technologies - every idea has its time!

While the focus is on new and disruptive technologies, the use of existing technologies in a different way or to solve a new problem can have quite remarkable effects.

To that end the technology with the most explosive growth over the last five years has been the smartphone. Mobile technologies account for the highest year-on-year growth of any other technology over the five year period and have revolutionised the way people engage with companies, websites and helped re-shape social media. Yet, interestingly, the healthcare space remains largely unaffected by mobile technology.

Yet with simple modifications and development, there is a very real potential to reduce waiting times, ensure more efficient patient flow – and these are just two cursory uses, there are a plethora of others.

Discrete event simulation is another example of a tool that is used extensively in logistics and manufacturing. This technique allows the 3D modeling of any process or micro-economy and demonstrates the visual impact of changes to the process. The technique is powered by logistics/manufacturing data and with correct accuracy levels, changes can be modeled before any work is undertaken or pound spent.

This technique, with a different focus can be used to simulate local health economies, A&E departments, merge GP practices, compare drug against drug amongst other things. The ability to accurately model with real data and visually represent the potential outcomes could revolutionise the way care is delivered and the use cases can be as varied as the imagination. The ability to model and therefore forecast with reasonable accuracy the impact of changes to budget and patient care can really revolutionise the delivery of care – without money being wasted on white elephant projects.

Finally, the notion of a portal has existed for years and has shaped other industries such as banking and travel, but to date the healthcare market hasn’t yet seen a portal that has really captured the imagination of patients. Imagine a solution that allows patients to modify appointments, dialogue with clinicians, view test results and their medical history. This would bring the healthcare technology experience in line with travel, media and banking providing transparency and ease of access. Of course this is by no means simple to do, but the technology already exists, the challenges are structural and tactical.

The examples above demonstrate that innovation isn’t always about block-busting solutions or new fads – but actually about changing the perspective of the way the problem is viewed and modifying existing technologies.

One key conclusion can be drawn is that innovation doesn’t have to be big; small changes can have amazing effects. Neither do they have to be new, but what is crucial is the vision and desire to solve new problems, the thinking needed to find solutions, but most crucially having available the enabling power of technology to provide the tools. I believe the enabling tools already exist, so the challenge is upon industry to use those tools to really innovate.

Jilani Gulam( https://twitter.com/Jilani_HealthiQ ) is co-founder and CEO of Health iQ. He helped deliver BBC iPlayer for TV Platforms and together with the Health iQ team developed pioneering solutions such as Vantage, a healthcare BI platform that leverages a Big Data approach.