How to Engage Physicians in Innovative Healthcare Efforts

There’s no shortage of digital health offerings promising to enhance patient care and achieve aspects of the quadruple aim of enhancing the patient experience, improving population health, reducing costs and improving the work life of healthcare providers.

These digital tools include apps, devices, augmented intelligence and data analytics. However, it is unclear how many of these options solve the right problems based on actual user needs.

Because the digital health ecosystem is growing and evolving so rapidly, it’s difficult for physicians, patients and health system administrators to navigate potential solutions that can address problems as well as meet various requirements . To help, the American Medical Association created its Physician Innovation Network , or PIN, which connects physicians, residents and medical students to health technology companies and entrepreneurs. Through research and talking with physicians active on the platform, the AMA has gathered some best practices:

ENGAGE EARLY AND OFTEN: Digital health companies must involve physicians (and patients) in the development of their products. The AMA, in collaboration with Sling Health, has created a Clinical Problem Database on PIN to provide physicians with a place to share unmet needs in health care delivery and clinical medicine, as well as enlighten the community regarding solutions that already exist.

AMA research shows that physicians want to be involved in decisions around new technology solutions. Their involvement can prevent missteps caused by a lack of understanding of how the clinical environment works. Health systems also can benefit; decisions made at the top and pushed down to physicians and care teams often encounter resistance and a lack of enthusiasm and support. Having the right people at the table upfront can help organizations anticipate such barriers, facilitate buy-in and minimize disruption to workflows.

OBTAIN DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES: For insight into how a product or solution will work once it’s introduced into the real world of patient care, digital health companies and health systems need the input of physicians with different backgrounds and in different specialties who collectively treat diverse patient populations. Getting multiple perspectives can help answer questions about potential applications such as how broadly the product or solution could be employed, how it may fit into a workflow and what patient populations might be best served.

BE RESPECTFUL OF TIME AND EXPERTISE: When physicians make themselves available, often they are sacrificing time with their patients — something companies should keep in mind when engaging with them. Some of the most successful interactions occur when there are aligned expectations around the problem to be solved, along with appropriate compensation and communication. If you schedule time with a physician to get input, stick to it. If you have the funding to compensate physicians for their time and expertise, do it.

If a digital health tool isn’t helping achieve the quadruple aim, it isn’t solving the right problem. The best way for digital health companies and health systems to ensure that it is implemented effectively is to involve physicians and patients.

Copyright 2019 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate.