Smaller stories have big impact
Yes, there was another Senate hearing on EHRs this week, public comments on the latest Meaningful Use proposed rule and more data breaches to report. But, the news that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle are the smaller stories about innovation and change which can be the most interesting and encouraging.
For example, CVS Health officially opened its Digital Innovation Lab in Boston, a facility focused on developing digital services and personalized capabilities that offer an accessible and integrated personal pharmacy and health experience.
The Digital Innovation Lab will help with the CVS Health digital team's mission to run like a startup, accelerating speed-to-market and impact of digital innovation across the enterprise, by using the resources of the lab to rapidly test, improve and implement new programs.
In the same region, several teaching hospitals launched the Massachusetts Clinical Gateway, a new web portal that allows companies from around the world to connect and collaborate with the state's academic medical centers for clinical research and programs.
The UMass Lowell Innovation Hub and the Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2) business incubators also opened for business on June 1.
The incubators will focus on growing medical device and technology startups. The 22,000 square feet in Lowell join the existing medical device incubator at the Wannalancit Business Center, also in Lowell, which houses 15 medical device startups.
Also, Intel-GE Care Innovations, a joint venture between Intel Corporation and GE Healthcare, announced its partnership with Front Porch communities and the Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing to measure the benefits of leveraging remote patient monitoring (RPM) with senior living residents.
That’s a lot of forward-thinking activity for one week. I hope efforts like these keep the healthcare community engaged and excited to keep delivering care and improving their ability to do so.
Beth Walsh
Clinical Innovation + Technology editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.