Technological Innovation In Healthcare Research Articles

Public-private partnerships in health sector innovation: Lessons from around the world

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have emerged as a crucial mechanism for fostering innovation in the health sector globally. This review encapsulates the lessons learned from diverse PPP models worldwide, highlighting their significance and impact. PPPs in healthcare innovation entail collaboration between governmental bodies, private enterprises, and sometimes non-profit organizations to address challenges, such as limited resources, expertise, and infrastructure, while leveraging the strengths of each sector. The success of PPPs relies on effective governance structures, clear objectives, and mutual accountability. One notable example is the United Kingdom's NHS Innovation Accelerator, which partners with industry leaders to fast-track the adoption of innovative healthcare technologies within the National Health Service (NHS). Through this initiative, pioneering solutions, ranging from digital health platforms to medical devices, have been implemented, enhancing patient care and operational efficiency. Similarly, in low-resource settings like sub-Saharan Africa, PPPs have played a pivotal role in improving access to essential healthcare services. Projects such as the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) collaborate with pharmaceutical companies, governments, and research institutions to develop affordable antimalarial drugs tailored to the region's needs. In the realm of medical research and development, partnerships like the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) have demonstrated the power of international collaboration in addressing global health threats. CEPI brings together governments, philanthropic organizations, and the private sector to expedite the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases, as witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, challenges persist in PPP implementation, including complex regulatory frameworks, funding uncertainties, and divergent interests among stakeholders. Lessons from successful PPPs underscore the importance of transparent communication, stakeholder engagement, and sustained political commitment. In conclusion, PPPs in the health sector represent a dynamic avenue for catalyzing innovation and driving transformative change. By drawing insights from diverse experiences worldwide, policymakers and practitioners can refine existing frameworks and foster sustainable partnerships to tackle evolving health challenges effectively.

Sustaining e-health innovations in a complex hospital environment: learning through evidence.

Implementing and sustaining technological innovations in healthcare is a complex process. Commonly, innovations are abandoned due to unsuccessful attempts to sustain and scale-up post implementation. Limited information is available on what characterizes successful e-health innovations and the enabling factors that can lead to their sustainability in complex hospital environments. We present a successful implementation, sustainability and scale-up of a virtual care program consisting of three e-health applications (telemedicine, telehome monitoring, and interactive voice response) in a major cardiac care hospital in Canada. We describe their evolution and adaptation over time, present the innovative approach for their "business case" and funding that supported their implementation, and identify key factors that enabled their sustainability and success, which may inform future research and serve as a benchmark for other health care organizations. Despite resource constraints, e-health innovations can be deployed and successfully sustained in complex healthcare settings contingent key considerations: simplifying technology to make it intuitive for patients; providing significant value proposition that is research supported to influence policy changes; involving early supporters of adoption from administrative and clinical staff; engaging patients throughout the innovation cycle; and partnering with industry/technology providers.

Business Analytics: Emerging Practice and Research Issues in the Health Insurance Industry

This paper summarizes emerging practice and research issues in the health insurance industry. We provide an industry overview, epitomize business analytics applications, and outline current and emerging problems of interest to key stakeholders and researchers in information systems, operations management, and healthcare management. Specifically, we focus on three areas of research that are of importance to the health insurance industry as well as the healthcare system: (i) management and evaluation of intervention programs, (ii) creation of effective provider networks, and (iii) emerging issues such as the impact of a pandemic, patient communication and steering, and technological innovations in health care. We lay out brief details of how each of these problems can be formulated, where the data can be acquired (public and/or proprietary data sets), and provide guidance for solving them. For several of these problems, we provide models that span causal modeling, predictive modeling, and prescriptive modeling.

Assessing the Impact of Technological Innovations in Healthcare: A Bibliometric Study of Medical Devices

Technological innovation in healthcare has emerged as a transformative force, reshaping the landscape of medical practices and patient care. This research conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to assess the impact of technological innovation in healthcare. Using VOSviewer, co-authorship, citation, and keyword co-occurrence networks are visualized and analyzed. A systematic literature review is conducted to collect relevant articles within a specific timeframe. The analysis identifies key research areas, influential authors, and the overall impact of healthcare technology. The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners, guiding evidence-based decision-making and shaping the future of healthcare technology.

A Heuristic-Concatenated Feature Classification Algorithm (H-CFCA) for autism and epileptic seizure detection

ObjectiveThe objective is to implement a comprehensive Heuristic-CFCA (H-CFCA) a feature classification system using Machine Learning and Deep Learning principles for detecting Autism and Epileptic Seizures with EEG data. This involves a sequential integration of functional blocks that includes EEG Pre-Processing, Dimensionality Reduction, Feature Extraction, and a Concatenated Feature Classification Scheme (CFCA). MethodsThe methodology involves db4 Wavelet-based decomposition (WD) for pre-processing the EEG into five frequency bands, followed by Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) for dimensionality reduction. Subsequently, Heuristic Independent Component Analysis (H-ICA) is applied to extract Independent Components (ICs). These ICs are fed to H-CFCA comprises of Support Vector Machine (SVM) as first stage classifier, followed by a Bi-Stack Long Short-Term Memory (BiS-LSTM) as second stage classifier to detect the presence of autism and epileptic seizure. ResultsThe evaluation of the proposed algorithm achieves an accuracy of 99.51 % and a Sensitivity of 98.86 % and F1 score of 99.32 % ConclusionThe article realizes an effective and feasible H-CFCA, with an ability to handle large size EEG datasets and achieves reduced computational complexity, and improved feature classification. Comparative analysis shows that H-CFCA achieves the highest accuracy and sensitivity compared to existing ML/DL-based algorithms. SignificanceThe EEG feature classification system significantly advances diagnostic accuracy, improves social well-being by enabling personalized interventions, and drives technological innovation in healthcare by leveraging advanced classification methods and data analysis techniques.

Providing clinicians with 'how to' knowledge for technology-based innovation: Introducing the SMS4dads texts.

Male partners are key supports for women in birth preparation and postnatally. Text-messaging can deliver timely information to expectant and new fathers to increase their support of the mother. However, technological innovations in healthcare often fail to be adopted. This study aims to assess the impact of disseminating a 'taster' set of SMS messages to increase clinicians' engagement with the intervention. Example messages from SMS4dads were delivered to clinicians over a 3-week period and a link provided to an evaluation survey. Agreement to two closed questions was rated on a five-point Likert scale; the frequency of specific recalled messages was calculated for the first open-ended question. Responses to the remaining open-ended questions were analysed with a descriptive thematic approach. A total of 418 participants (female 61.5%) working in health organisations (80.4%), mostly in nursing (33.9%) or midwifery (19.6%) enrolled. Of the 77 (18.4%) participants who provided an evaluation, 96% agreed or strongly agreed that the Professional Taster gave them a better understanding of how to explain the program, and 88% agreed or strongly agreed that they are now more likely to tell parents about the program. Analysis of the remaining two open-ended questions revealed clinicians' concerns for fathers alongside their primary focus on maternal wellbeing. Providing 'how to' knowledge through receiving a sample of the intervention may increase clinicians' acceptance of technological innovation. SO WHAT?: Health-promoting digital interventions using text are increasing. Novel tested strategies for gaining buy-in from healthcare staff will be needed.

Adoption of technological innovation in healthcare delivery: a psychological perspective for healthcare decision-makers

Technological advancements are vital for improving the capacity of the health system to deliver health and well-being benefits to individuals. Despite significant financial investments in technological innovations in healthcare, patients...

Characterizing attributes of innovation of technologies for healthcare: a systematic review

Objectives Characterizing and evaluating the holistic value of innovative healthcare technologies (e.g. treatments, services) constitutes a crucial goal to maximize limited resources. However, the characteristics of innovation have not been well identified. This review aims to describe the characteristics of healthcare innovation. Methods We performed a comprehensive systematic search using PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, and Econlit from inception to July 2022. Articles were included if they described innovation or the characteristics of innovation of the technologies in healthcare. Characteristics or definitions of innovation directly or indirectly described as innovation were extracted from the included articles. Two independent reviewers then conceptualized the identified characteristics of innovation to generate innovation attributes in healthcare. Results In total, 103 articles were included in this review. Eight attributes describing innovation, i.e. novelty, step change, substantial benefits, an improvement over existing technologies, convenience and/or adherence, added value, acceptable cost, and uncounted benefits, were conceptualized. Most of the identified innovation attributes were based on the researchers’ perspective. Conclusions This study conceptualized innovation attributes in healthcare based on the characteristics of healthcare innovation as defined in the literature. Further research is warranted to obtain a complete understanding of the perspectives of researchers and other stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, healthcare payers, and the pharmaceutical industry, on recognizing innovation in healthcare. KEY POINTS This is the first systematic review to conceptualize attributes of healthcare innovation. We conceptualized eight attributes describing innovation, i.e. novelty, step change, substantial benefits, an improvement over existing technologies, convenience and/or adherence, added value, acceptable cost, and uncounted benefits based on the similar concept. In existing literature, patients’ and caregivers’ perspectives were less frequently found to describe the innovation attributes. Future research is needed to identify, measure, and value various stakeholders, including patients’ and caregivers’ perspectives on healthcare innovation.

Making the case for more and better trained clinician‐leaders

As we gradually emerge from the COVID‐19 pandemic, morale among healthcare staff is sagging as the extent of the clinical backlog becomes clear. This is resulting in a workforce crisis as many clinicians elect to reduce their sessions, retire early or leave to work elsewhere. To rectify this we need to improve pay and conditions and to radically change working practices. One approach to the problem is to deploy more clinician‐leaders. Their collaborative leadership skills could bolster morale and enhance the quality and safety of care as well as accelerate the adoption of much needed innovative healthcare technology.

HTA39 Characterization, Measurement, and Valuation of Attributes of Innovation of Technologies for Healthcare: A Systematic Review

Characterising and evaluating the holistic value of innovative healthcare technologies constitutes a crucial goal to maximize limited resources. However, there is a paucity of research attempting to systematically delve deeper into these characteristics of innovation. This review aims to describe the characteristics of healthcare innovation and how they have been defined, measured and/or valued from different perspectives.

HTA55 Use of Surrogate Endpoints for Obtaining Accelerated Approval - a Market-Level Descriptive Analysis

A key issue in the increasing move towards early access to innovative healthcare technologies is the use of surrogate endpoints to support market access decisions for such technologies. While surrogate endpoints have been widely used, their impact on access decisions in North American and European healthcare markets is not well understood. This research aims to explore the utility of surrogate endpoints in market authorization, coverage, and reimbursement decisions.

Veterans Affairs Hospital Productivity Change and the Policy Implications: A Research Note

As a reaction to the Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital scandal in 2014, the Veterans Choice Act of 2014 was enacted to enhance veterans’ access to health care. This study evaluated the productivity change of a panel of 102 VA hospitals from 2011 through 2019 to examine how the Act influenced the overall VA hospital productivity. The results revealed that the overall productivity of VA hospitals declined over the period and VA hospitals were not operating at an optimal scale to produce maximum outputs due to a decrease in the number of veteran patients after the Act was implemented. In addition, the technical change value less than 1 implies that VA hospitals produced fewer outputs with the given input resources over the period due to lagged adoption of innovative health care technology.

The success of HIV combination prevention: The Dean Street model.

The 56 Dean Street combination prevention model, a strong engagement with the LGBTQI community and flexible services adapted to users' changing needs led to an 80% drop in HIV diagnoses in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) from 2015 to 2017. We describe the service changes at 56 Dean Street since 2012 which resulted in an increase in the frequency of HIV testing, the introduction of pre-exposure prophylaxis, earlier HIV diagnosis and a shorter time to viral suppression in those living with HIV. This model could be adapted to deliver similar results in those settings of high HIV prevalence among GBMSM and where access to technological innovation in healthcare and engagement with the community can be achieved.

The healthcare technology needs you

The growing evidence and technology in healthcare improve the patient's health across a continuum of services in clinical and community settings. A multidisciplinary team should work in tandem on this phenomenon. Therefore, innovative healthcare technology must be designed intensively to optimize productivity, provide new insight, and support the standard treatment for particular diseases. In the coming years, technology is needed to change the way of caring for the patient. The concept is a fundamental aspect because recent technology has shaped up in front of our practice with advances in digital healthcare services, such as 3D printing, robotics, nanotechnology, and even artificial intelligence (The Medical Futurist, 2021). Updated studies should be developed and published focusing on innovative technology, including in Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and other health-related topics.
 Keywords: healthcare; innovation in technology; patient care; outcomes improvement; chronic illness

The DFUC 2020 Dataset: Analysis Towards Diabetic Foot Ulcer Detection.

Every 20 seconds a limb is amputated somewhere in the world due to diabetes. This is a global health problem that requires a global solution. The International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention challenge, which concerns the automated detection of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) using machine learning techniques, will accelerate the development of innovative healthcare technology to address this unmet medical need. In an effort to improve patient care and reduce the strain on healthcare systems, recent research has focused on the creation of cloud-based detection algorithms. These can be consumed as a service by a mobile app that patients (or a carer, partner or family member) could use themselves at home to monitor their condition and to detect the appearance of a DFU. Collaborative work between Manchester Metropolitan University, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust has created a repository of 4,000 DFU images for the purpose of supporting research toward more advanced methods of DFU detection. This paper presents a dataset description and analysis, assessment methods, benchmark algorithms and initial evaluation results. It facilitates the challenge by providing useful insights into state-of-the-art and ongoing research.

The Italian Case of Lecco Innovation Living Lab: Stakeholders’ Needs and Activities to Contribute to the Technological Innovation Process in Healthcare

Healthcare technological innovation is a very complex process in which different actors interact with each other, creating a large number of interconnections and synergies in the design of technological innovations. Despite the increasing number of living labs (LLs) in healthcare, building and maintaining LLs for technological innovation in healthcare is challenging. Collaboration with stakeholders remains an issue of major concern in healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to identify stakeholders’ needs in building an LL in healthcare and to plan activities to foster the innovation process. The paper is based on an exploratory single case study investigating an Italian LL. Eight stakeholders’ needs were identified and validated. Specific activities were identified as improving the innovation process in terms of the stakeholders’ needs. The study contributes to the development of domain-specific knowledge and, as such, to the fostering of studies on and the implementation of LLs in healthcare.

Implementing disruptive technological change in UK healthcare: exploring development of a smart phone app for remote patient monitoring as a boundary object using qualitative methods.

Developing technological innovations in healthcare is made complex and difficult due to effects upon the practices of professional, managerial and other stakeholders. Drawing upon the concept of boundary object, this paper explores the challenges of achieving effective collaboration in the development and use of a novel healthcare innovation in the English healthcare system. A case study is presented of the development and implementation of a smart phone application (app) for use by rheumatoid arthritis patients. Over a two-year period (2015-2017), qualitative data from recorded clinical consultations (n=17), semi-structured interviews (n=63) and two focus groups (n=13) were obtained from participants involved in the app's development and use (clinicians, patients, researchers, practitioners, IT specialists and managers). The case focuses on the use of the app and its outputs as a system of inter-connected boundary objects. The analysis highlights the challenges overcome in the innovation's development and how knowledge sharing between patients and clinicians was enhanced, altering the nature of the clinical consultation. It also shows how conditions surrounding the innovation both enabled its development and inhibited its wider scale-up. By recognizing that technological artefacts can simultaneously enable and inhibit collaboration, this paper highlights the need to overcome tensions between the transformative capability of such healthcare innovations and the inhibiting effects simultaneously created on change at a wider system level.

Innovative Healthcare Technologies in Otorhinolarnygological Practice in Sub-Saharan Africa: Strategies for Accelerated Uptake

Healthcare innovations are geared towards greater patient comfort, improved diagnosis and better treatment outcomes. Otorhinolaryngology (ORL) has witnessed many technological innovations become a core aspect of daily practice. Sub-Saharan Africa is currently lagging behind the rest of the world in both development and uptake of innovative health technologies. This paper aims to examine these innovations in otorhinolaryngology as well as the challenges and routes to their timely deployment in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A literature review was conducted on papers retrieved from Google scholar and Pubmed. Several factors have hampered practitioners in SSA from fully leveraging new technologies. By applying political, legal, economic, educational and scientific strategies these practitioners may adopt safe, effective, home-grown adaptations of emerging technologies for accelerated uptake.

Technological Innovation in Healthcare: Disrupting Old Systems to Create More Value for African American Patients in Academic Medical Centers

Healthcare in the United States (U.S.) has made incredible advances, but inefficiency and high costs continue to permeate the system. Urban and underserved communities face the greatest array of healthcare problems including the need to improve the quality of care provided them, disproportionate levels of poverty among different groups in the U.S., and the number of unhealthy people disproportionately represented by mostly African American and Hispanic populations. Academic medical centers (AMCs) are major community stakeholders who work to fulfill the increasing healthcare demands of underserved communities. With the tripartite mission of delivering high quality care to patients, undertaking clinical and laboratory research, and training future health professionals, AMCs have a unique ability to address health concerns of the most vulnerable populations. Innovations in healthcare technology are critical to ensure that AMCs properly address health disparities and the specific health concerns of rapidly growing African American populations. Awareness of these disparities may lead to improved processes and protocol implementation, which can promote innovation and quality improvement to allow AMCs to remain a key player in addressing population-based clinical research, quality of care, and health disparities nationwide.

Media representation of telemedicine in the German medical journal “Deutsches Ärzteblatt”: an acceptance-theoretical analysis

Media reporting can influence the perception and development of attitudes through the frequency and the way certain topics are presented. The German Medical Journal “Deutsches Arzteblatt” is one of the most important media for agenda-setting in Germany. It thus has an influence on opinion-forming and acceptance within the medical profession in regard to innovative healthcare technologies. The aim of this work is to quantify the media representation of telemedicine and deduce the qualitatively depicted acceptance factors. All articles on telemedicine published in “Deutsches Arzteblatt” between 01/01/2008 and 01/01/2018 were reviewed. The type of article, the focus, the connotation, and the degree of explanation were recorded quantitatively as well as the discussed topics and content aspects. In a structured content analysis, acceptance factors were derived based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The representation of telemedicine in the German Medical Journal has increased significantly in the last 10 years, and shows a tendency towards neutral and balanced reporting. A change in content can be seen. While the focus was still on technical aspects until 2012, it is currently increasing in the scientific–medical field. Emphasis is put on the presentation of expectations of performance and effort as well as the description and modification of framework conditions. Further research is needed, focusing on the relevance of media representation of new forms of care such as telemedicine in order to increase acceptance and to develop attitudes on an individual, organizational, and systemic level.