No Oxymorons Here: Innovation in Healthcare

When you think oxymorons – Jumbo Shrimp or Military Intelligence – Healthcare Innovation might rank right up there.

It’s true, healthcare organizations can be risk-averse and slow to adopt new technologies. After all, the regulations are labyrinthian, the margins are razor-thin, and many in leadership have large operational challenges which compete for time and attention with the new technology.

However, when the Technology Association of Oregon partnered up with OHSU to host this year’s Health Ignite presentations, there was keen interest.

The night started off with a presentation from Rewire Neuroscience, highlighting a clear solution to a problem that was borne out of the presenter’s own painful challenge – that of manually counting bio-markers. Not only was this terribly time-consuming, but the results varied by the individual doing the counting. When life-or death decisions are made based on these results, it seems like reproduceable results, delivered quickly, are essential. Luckily, this kind of grunt work is what computers are made for – computers with incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize and count the bio-markers, creating consistency, with faster outputs than manually counting.

Another presentation I really enjoyed was a new way to do breast cancer screening, dealing with the problem of too many missed issues in mammography – up to 40% in women with dense breasts – not to mention discomfort. The presenter from Bates Medical is working on a higher-resolution ultrasound option.

Two presenters were talking about innovation in the business of medicine. Kate Othus from Data DX is using software to analyze the business of managing clinics and striving to quantify the cost-per-unit of care. And from the world of traditional healthcare, Moda insurance company executive Jim Richards MD, noted how value-based care could improve both quality and outcomes, through shared risk, alternative payment models (including paying for performance), primary care medial homes, and data exchanges (including clinical but also financial and care management).

These were just one-third of the presentations shared that evening in Portland. But all presenters made one thing clear – there is plenty of innovation in healthcare, tackling issues from life science, to imaging, to the business models.

Note: these observations are my own and are in no way an endorsement of any company or person. All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinions of an employer – past or present.