Why Technology Alone Can’t Save Healthcare

We cannot go one day without reading a headline about how technology is the driving force of change in healthcare. In fact, the term “innovation” is practically synonymous with “technology.” AI. Big data. Connectivity. Technology is being positioned as the silver bullet across almost every aspect of healthcare, and many other industries as well. I challenge that notion. As chief science and technology officer at Baxter, I recognize the importance (and even criticality) of technology. But, it’s time to break up with the idea that tech is the exclusive trigger for innovation in healthcare.

The challenges the healthcare industry faces to deliver real value – which I define as access and quality with affordability – cannot be solved by technology alone. Many are struggling to make sense of the mountains of data coming out of care settings. Pulling data off bedside patient monitors is not helpful if the data cannot be quickly analyzed and stratified so that clinicians can act on high-risk situations in real time. I believe many healthcare providers feel let down when another tech ‘gadget’ is paraded out without solving any of their real-life problems.

At Baxter, we see innovation differently – through four lenses: business, process, therapy and technology. The potential to deliver more value to our customers comes when we work across two or more pillars to find new solutions.

We can look to other industries for some inspiration. Take business model innovation, which is often created at a time of desperate need. When a business has a “near death” experience, and lives to tell the tale. For example: Best Buy’s story. As the shift to making electronics purchases online became more and more mainstream, many (myself included) anticipated a grim future for the retail chain. But that assumption was proven wrong. Best Buy put business innovation to work when it came to their top competitive advantages – reshaping how scale and location would continue to make the store an attractive option for consumers, adjusting and expanding what it sold and reimagining the style and makeup of its stores. Today, they are better equipped to weather a consumer downturn than they were before.

Have you ever shopped at Zara? Years ago, this fashion giant – which began as a small business in northern Spain – made headlines for its process innovation that instigated “fast fashion.” Rather than manufacture a season’s worth of goods ahead of time, as was the industry norm, Zara reserved the majority of its production capacity for in-season. They integrated customer feedback into designs in real-time, producing fewer mass items and more unique pieces. With manufacturing sites strategically located close to its major markets, product could be turned around and on shelves in just three weeks. This on-demand design process changed consumer expectations and how people shopped for clothing.

Here at Baxter, we have a technology platform that allows clinicians to monitor home dialysis treatment, remotely. The patient is at home, administering therapy every night. Their nurses and physicians are miles away at the dialysis center trying to keep up on all of their patients. In the past, patient management relied solely on the patient reporting a problem via the phone to their nurses. The technology enables secure sharing of treatment information without the patient having to do anything. A great innovation, right? Interestingly enough, how clinicians adopt our Sharesource with Automated Peritoneal Dialysis (APD) Cycler platform can make a big difference, and we’ve seen varying levels of adoption by clinicians across the globe. In the years the technology has been available, we’ve learned that when the clinic treats it as just one step in a daily process, very little value is delivered. But, those that embrace Sharesource whole-heartedly do indeed often make remarkable changes in the way they work; for example, some hospitals report hosting “Sharesource Coffee Hours” each morning where the care team now collaborates on the management of their APD patients. When clinicians pair this technology with a change to how they manage home patients on a daily basis, visibility to adherence patterns may provide opportunities to intervene, educate or retrain the patient in a more timely manner. In other words, combining this technology innovation with changed behaviors, practices may yield the greatest impact.

Technology certainly plays a role in many of the challenges in front of us. But, technology advancements must be paired with the business, process and therapy innovations to create more room for new ideas, bold actions and meaningful results that will help us save and sustain lives.