Evidence-Based Digital Health

I recently attended a meeting about health innovation. The speakers delivered what has become the mandatory script for such events, including such topics as disruption, open innovation, social media, restoring the doctor-patient relationship, and how ripe medicine is for change. I was disappointed.

It's time we move on and deliver evidence-based health innovation. There has now been enough experience with success and failures to talk about what works and what does not, why and whether the lessons are generalizable for given health innovation domains. This is particularly important for those non-sick-care entrepreneurs trying their hands at sick-care innovation who think all we need to do is Uberize sick care models.

Here are some nagging questions that demand answers with evidence:

1. How do we innovate in the face of dysfunctional rules and regulations? Which rules need to change and how do we change all the non-sick care systems that are responsible for most health outcome disparities?

2. Who pays for all this?

3. How do you create a value proposition for each part of the complicated multi-sided market that does not respond to traditional supply and demand factors?

4. How to we make doctors and patients smarter when it comes to making choices about supplying and consuming dwindling sick-care resources?

5. What are examples of success and failures and what are the lessons learned?

6. What are the success factors predictive of sick-care innovation success?

7. How can we make it easier for non-sick-care entrepreneurs to get a better understanding of the sick-care ecosystem?

8. How do we reduce the unintended workflow disruption consequences of sick care innovation ideas?

9. How do we treat change fatigue?

10. How should we measure sick-care innovation considering the overlap of profit and mission driven institutions?

11. How to we navigate the last mile?

12. How do we get innovators to raise the bar and stop quitting too soon?

Let's stop the innovation cheer leading and move on to a more evidence based approach. At this stage, attendees want Sick Care Innovation Conference 2.0.