Efforts to accelerate the innovation of health information technology (IT) products need long-term collaboration between developers and users, transformation of care processes in tandem with IT tools, and development of new funding models.

Accelerating Innovation in Health IT

Robert S. Rudin, David W. Bates, Calum MacRae

ResearchPosted on rand.org Sep 19, 2016Published in: The New England Journal of Medicine, v. 375, no. 9, Sep. 2016, p. 815-817

Efforts to accelerate the innovation of health information technology (IT) products need long-term collaboration between developers and users, transformation of care processes in tandem with IT tools, and development of new funding models.

Key Findings

  • Multidisciplinary teams of developers (employees of IT firms, researchers, entrepreneurs) and users (clinicians, patients with different medical conditions) could give each other the various perspectives needed to create sustainable solutions.
  • Developing a thorough understanding of diverse patient and clinician needs through direct interaction is an investment that is critical to success.
  • Health IT innovation and clinical care redesign must happen in tandem.
  • Innovation "sandboxes" in which developers could test and learn from initial solutions would systematically provide in-depth feedback.
  • An innovation program will require new models for funding.
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Document Details

  • Copyright: Massachusetts Medical Society
  • Availability: Non-RAND
  • Year: 2016
  • Pages: 3
  • Document Number: EP-66631

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