Organizers: Innovation HealthJam attracts wide audience

Innovation HealthJam, an online industry collaboration event with forums and discussions that took place from June 17-19, facilitated a successful exchange of innovation, wellness and technology ideas, according to organizers. It was hosted by IBM and sponsored by vendors, industry associations and educational institutions. 

Thousands of individuals registered for the event, which featured more than 80 speakers, eight hosts and 58 facilitators. The conversion rate of 65 percent was above average, with 32 percent of those who logged in posting in at least one of the eight forums. In total, the event saw 3,114 total logins and 3,398 total posts.

The fact that it was the “first ‘jam’ in IBM’s history to have more posts than logins—attests to the passion of the audience and importance of the subjects,” according to a brief on the event by Jerry Kurtze, director of new business development and innovation at Innovation HealthJam.

Participants also weighed in on an array of poll questions, and the dominant view was that the patient is the most important person within the care continuum. Also they by and large believe that genomics will become a factor in the daily practice of clinicians between three to 10 years. Participants also saw gamification as an important aspect to the future of healthcare and that prevention programs are the most important part of the industry.

The top ideas in patient engagement included a patient app to analyze issues between all medication and dietary habits; frequent flyer program for health; health scores; an intelligent grocery cart that advocates healthy decisions; and self-care diagnosis at home. Ideas for technology and aging included sensors that automatically take measurements (i.e., mat, mirrors, beds and smartphone) and smart TVs for the elderly. Top ideas for the future role of physicians were decentralized physicians who go to the patient; voice and video recognition applications that automatically document meetings for physicians; and crowd funding of communities to pay for surgeries. More popular ideas for telehealth included a single U.S. medical license for telehealth and a telehealth uber service.

The Innovation Jam app will continue to be live through July 31. Access it here.

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