The healthcare industry has long relied on traditional, linear models of innovation – basic and applied research followed by development and commercialization. While this “lab-bench to bedside” approach has improved healthcare globally, it can take years, even decades, for an innovation to get to market, often with limited input from patients themselves. The results can be technically sound, but sub-optimal from the patient’s standpoint (as any woman who has endured a painful mammogram understands).
Putting Humans at the Center of Health Care Innovation
An alternative to the traditional, linear, model of healthcare innovation is emerging: human-centered design and co-creation. This set of approaches that can accelerate and humanize healthcare innovation, and isn’t just about getting greater patient feedback during the innovation process. Patients are co-designers, co-developers, and increasingly more responsible for their own and collective health outcomes. The authors share results from their close studies of three of these models: The Helix Centre at Imperial College London, the Center for Innovation at the Mayo Clinic, and the Consortium for Medical Technologies at Massachusetts General Hospital. Each locates interdisciplinary innovation labs within or near hospital environments; involves diverse stakeholders beyond clinicians (designers, engineers, business professionals, and patients) early in the innovation process ; and engages end users in customizing solutions for their own needs. All have related missions, types of successes, and common challenges.