Disruptive Innovation in Healthcare

In 1992, the theory of disruptive Innovation was provided by Clayton Christensen. He defines it as “describes a process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors.” (Christensen, 2017)

Low-end Disruptive Innovation occurs when new technology has been created in order to provide more affordable and simpler products to a targeted group of people.

High-end Disruptive Innovation occurs when new technology has been created offering low in affordability but high-performing. (Motamedi, 2015 Feb 23)

“Disruptive innovations, like we’ve seen in other industries, can bring complex and expensive health care products and services to greater levels of affordability and accessibility,” Hwang says. (Glabman, 2009 Jan)

• Retail Clinics

o Operating outside conventional physician offices, they provide EMR (electronic

medical record). The clinics provide patients access to medical professions with

minor needs, freeing up acute facilities. Some of the initial benefits of EMR use

include better patient care coordination and disease management, fewer medical

errors, increased productivity, and the reduced costs which could result if all of

these objectives were achieved. (Hayes, 2015 Aug 6)

• Clinical Services (Telemedicine)

o Telemedicine was adopted from telecommunications technology, the ability to

send information over a distance. What started as sending information over the

wire through telephones or radiologic images, today’s healthcare utilizes

telemedicine on a daily basis. Telemedicine has the power to cut our healthcare

spending by reducing problems like medication non-adherence and unnecessary

ER visits, and making typical doctor visits more efficient.(eVisit, 2017)

• Outbound Medical tourism

Medical tourism can be defined as the process of traveling outside the country of

residence for the purpose of receiving medical care.(Mestrovic, 2014 Sep 17) This

has grown primarily due to cheaper options, flawed insurance system, expertise

and technology, and provision of variety of options for treatment. (medhalt, 2016

May 19)

• Personalized Medicine

Retail clinics can provide common treatment for all, at lower cost. Many

individuals are calling for personalized medicine. “The number of targeted

therapies in the pipeline for all diseases is increasing dramatically,” says J.

Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer

Society. (Morgan, 2017) The one-size-fits-all model is being reduced as

individuals require a more direct method to treat their health on an individual

level. The greatest stride of personalized medicine has been the treatment of

cancer and HIV.

• Point of Care Payments

With an increase in high deductible plans, higher co-pays, higher co-insurance,

nearly 40% of patients are self-pay and 50 cents out of every dollar directly billed

to your patient is going uncollected. (Medicalpaysolutions. 2017) The emergence

of portable technology, where many use their smartphones to shop and bank,

healthcare can setup a secure portal for speedy check-in, check-out processes

while reducing costs. The healthcare industry use of this new technology can

acquire point-of-care payments easier, allowing more flexibility for the patient.

References:

Clayton Christensen. (2017). Disruptive Innovation. Retrieved from http://www.claytonchristensen.com/key-concepts/
Sina Motamedi. (2015 Feb 23). High-end disruption: using affordability to measure innovation. Retrieved from http://tannutuva.org/blog/2015/high-end-disruption

Maureen Glabman. (2009 Jan). Disruptive Innovations that will change your life in Health Care. Retrieved from https://www.managedcaremag.com/archives/2009/1/disruptive-innovations-will-change-your-life-health-care

Tara O’Neill Hayes. (2015 Aug 6). Are electronic medical records worth the costs of implementation? Retrieved from https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/are-electronic-medical-records-worth-the-costs-of-implementation/
eVisit. (2017). Telemedicine Guide. Retrieved from https://evisit.com/what-is-telemedicine/

Tomislav Mestrovic. (2014 Sep 17). What is medical tourism? Retrieved from https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Medical-Tourism.aspx

Medhalt. (2016 May 19). Why outbound medical tourism will grow in America? Retrieved from http://www.medhalt.com/blog/outbound-medical-tourism-grow-america

Kendall Morgan. (2017). What is personalized medicine? Retrieved from http://genomemag.com/what-is-personalized-medicine/#.WZrJYD6GNhE

Medicalpaysolutions.(2017). Point-of-Care Solutions. Retrieved from http://www.medicalpaysolutions.org/point-of-care.html