The Innovation Conundrum In Health Care

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series of several posts related to the 4th European Forum on Health Policy and Management: Innovation & Implementation, to be held in Berlin, Germany on January 29 and 30, 2015. For more information or to request your personal invitation contact the Center for Healthcare Management.
It is never too early for new technology in health care. In contrast to the innovator’s dilemma in other industries where the adoption can be sluggish because current customers may not be able to use the future’s toolbox, in medicine innovators always can be assured of an audience when announcing the “life-saving impact” of something new.
Coverage and widespread implementation usually are a different story, but creating hype and demand for unusual and unfamiliar medical technology has never been hard. But who then drives the invention, diffusion, application, and evaluation of such innovation?
There are multiple “customers” for medical innovation: the patient who might benefit from advances in technology (if proven effective and covered); the doctor who is excited to play with the technology; the evaluator who finds an abundance of new gadgets to be assessed, tested, and recommended (or not). And finally, payers, including the government, influenced by the health care system’s value system — which in the U.S. favors excellence, whatever it costs, over utilitarianism — will also have a say.
With this populous and fragmented unive...

Source: Health Affairs Blog - December 12, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Katharina Janus Tags: All Categories Europe Health Care Delivery Innovation Pharma Policy Quality Research Technology Source Type: blogs