Lecture 1: Intro to MITCH
Interested in technologies for healthcare embedded in communities → FEX. m-health, e-health,
point-of-care techs, self-monitoring tools, AI and big data analysis tools.
Changes in healthcare system: rising costs (total healthcare costs in 2022 in NL were
approximately 51.5 billion euros) - demographic changes (people aged over 80 is expected to
double in Europe by 2050) - changing healthcare systems (home hospitals, remote care) -
technological opportunities (focus on ICT, which makes it possible to embed technology in
society) - privatisation and competition (lucrative industry due to huge profits) - COVID
(medical/prevention/modelling/sociology, changed the way we see things).
- Changing demographics: we are getting older, which drives the demand for healthcare
and strains the healthcare financing → also a growing middle class, which leads to
accelerated ubranisation and access to middle-class comforts/lifestyle → demographic
shifts and societal changes;
- intensify pressures on health systems (money, caregivers).
- demand new directions in the delivery of healthcare.
- no one wants to pay too much when they are healthy, but…
- everyone wants the best possible care when they are ill.
- pricing of treatments is a complex multi-actor process.
- no political party dares to reduce healthcare > budget.
- Changing healthcare systems: in response to rising costs and demographic challenges,
healthcare systems are changing; (a) hospital to home (clients stay at home llonger
and/or leave the hospital earlier), (b) more focus on informal care (informal and formal
caregivers are expected to work together to organise care efficiently), (c) more focus on
self-relience of the client (cure > cope → seniorisation means shift from repair to cope
with disease).
Innovation = implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good/service) or
process, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practices,
workplace organisation or external relations → novelty + implementation = innovation →
innovation is an outcome (product), process and mindset.
→ innovation in healthcare: those changes that help healthcare practitioners focus on the patient
and other stakeholders by helping them to work smarter, faster, better and/or more
cost-effectively.
What’s new? → novelty may come in different forms:
- New uses: original products positioned in new markets without any significant changes.
→ FEX. drones were mainly used in the military for surveillance, but nowadays they are used in
healthcare to transport drugs and bloodsamples.
- New category entries: products that are new to the company, but not to the consumer.
→ FEX. low-dose X-ray developed by a certain company to achieve an image with radiation → it
was used for the health sector by Lodox to produce rapid images of the whole body.
- New-to-the-world products: technological innovations that create a completely new
market that previously did not exist → are radical innovations.
→ FEX. devices for asthmatic attacks are made like toys to make it easier to use for children.
Recombinant innovation = innovations that combine different functionalities/technologies to
come up with something new.
Technological innovation = a product that is new or significantly changed with respect to its
characteristics or intended use.
, Service innovation = new elements introduced into an organisation that do not principally
involve supplying a good and it consists of mainly intangible combinations of processes, skills
and materials → characteristics: (a) intangible (cannot be apprehended by the physical senses), (b)
heterogeneous (variability in the quality parameters, since they are transmitted from people to
people), (c) perishable (used as offered with no possibility of storage, return, sale or even
subsequent use), (d) inseparable (produced and consumed at the same time).
Incremental innovation = Radical innovation =
dominant design is unchanged leads to a new dominant design
does not lead to a paradigm shift can lead to a paradigm shift
low levels of uncertainty high levels of uncertainty
improvement of existing characteristics introduces a whole new set of performance featues
result of a rational response or necessity (fill the gap) result of chance (serendipity) or research and
development of policy and not necessity
driven by market pull driven by technology
There are many technological opportunities → AI, big data, genome-healthcare.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) = increasingly playing a role in healthcare
processes → data monitoring, self-care tools, apps, diagnoses, DNA analysis, algorithms
predicting diseases → need to use them in a responsible way.
Why do we need innovation in healthcare? → (a) rising costs (inefficient systems, expensive
medicine, lifestyle), (b) medical errors (communication faults, misinterpretation of info/data), (c)
gap between knowledge and practice (professionals need to stay up to date, misinterpretation of
information/data, improve the quality of care), (d) organisation of healthcare (complex health
care systems (many actors, roles, activities), inefficient health care systems, change in
government regulations, cooperation between caregivers, cure > cope).
Innovation in healthcare:
- Acceptance: how can we innovate healthcare? Is it perceived as useful? Are there
barriers? → perceived ease of use + perceived usefulness result in decreased uncertainty
and fear, the intention to adopt the tech and adoption of the tech = technology
acceptance model → most people dislike change, so there should be motivation to adopt.
- Diffusion: emergence of a new tech -> the tech is perceived as new and relevant ->
willingness to experiment with implementation -> ehance effective and efficient factors
in the organisation = diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers).
→ tech adoption categories: innovators (2.5%, venturesome, interested in new ideas, willing to
take risks and often first to develop new ideas) - early adopters (13.5%, opinion leaders, enjoy
leadership roles, embrace change opportunities) - early majority (34%, rarely leaders, but adopt
new ideas before the average person, typically need to see evidence that the innovation works
before they are willing to adopt it) - late majority (34%, sceptical of change and only adopt an
innovation after it has been tried by the majority) - laggards (15%, bound by tradition and very
conservative, very sceptical and hardest group to bring on board).
6 forces affecting innovation: (1) industry players (many stakeholders in healthcare with different
interests/agendas), (2) funding (process of finding investors, generate revenues, acquiring
capital), (3) public policy (extensive network of regulations and rules), (4) technology (how and
