Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1519468
34 INNOVATION Sutter Health opens 11K-square-foot digital innovation center By Giles Bruce S acramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health opened an 11,000-square-foot digital innovation center in San Francisco to develop new healthcare artificial intelligence and remote patient monitoring platforms, the San Francisco Chronicle reported March 22. The 22-hospital system signed a seven-year lease for the space in January and will bring its designers, developers and engineers together with Bay Area AI and digital health firms to come up with new healthcare solutions, according to the story. "This is a long bet," Sutter Health Chief Innovation Officer Chris Waugh told the newspaper. Projects under development include in-home sensors — including for the bed, stove and refrigerator — that track people's movements to determine when they're at risk for falling, an app to monitor teens' mental health, and a digital program where hypertension patients keep tabs on their blood pressure from home, the Chronicle reported. The center will also include a model "hospital room of the future" complete with remote patient monitoring devices and an Apple Genius Bar-type setup where patients can get help with Sutter's digital health apps, according to the story. n Why digital health needs a 'strategy overhaul' By Giles Bruce D igital health platforms must take a page from Big Tech companies — and largely do the opposite to succeed in healthcare, per an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Healthcare is a much different business than retail, hospitality and tech and must be treated as such by digital health companies looking to succeed, the researchers wrote in the study, "Health Care Platforms Need a Strategy Overhaul." Digital health platforms won't replace industry services, a la Airbnb or Amazon, but complement them, so the companies should concentrate on a "narrow and well-defined scope and integrate with established ecosystems," the paper's authors said. And unlike big social media platforms like Facebook that just want more users, digital health startups should focus on the quality of their user data, using it to improve operations and business development, according to the sturdy. Digital health platforms also aren't Apple with its centralized app and developer ecosystem — they operate under "distributed orchestration among physicians, health care organizations, governments, insurance companies" — and must act accordingly, participating in the development of regulations, the authors wrote. "Digital healthcare platforms, if done right and implemented well, can be a large step in solving the productivity crisis in healthcare," said Johan Frishammar, a study author and professor of entrepreneurship and innovation in Sweden, in a March 11 news release. "ere is still much to be explored in what these platforms can do and should do, but ultimately they can make healthcare more accessible, more affordable, and more improved." n RWJBarnabas Health to anchor $450M digital innovation 'city' By Giles Bruce W est Orange, N.J.-based RWJBarnabas Health will be the lead hospital partner at a new $450 million, 30-acre digital innovation "city" in New Jersey. Jersey City's SciTech Scity, which is being developed by the Liberty Science Center museum, is a cross-industry collaboration that aims to make healthcare more equitable through digital projects. "e paramount societal challenge we must focus on now is the transformation of our current sick-care system to true healthcare that detects illnesses in their infancy, or prevents illnesses entirely, through cost-effective digital home health technology," said Paul Hoffman, president and CEO of Liberty Science Center, in a Feb. 29 news release. Other partners include Israel's Sheba Medical Center, pharma giant Bristol Myers Squibb, accounting firm Ernst & Young, tech company Nokia Bell Labs, and area academic institutions such as Princeton (N.J.) University and New York City-based New York University. ey plan to pilot digital health startups and technology in a densely populated, diverse part of New Jersey. RWJBarnabas Health's Jersey City Medical Center is located nearby. "We are absolutely thrilled to partner with SciTech Scity to collaborate on innovation initiatives and create new pathways to advance health equity," stated Michael Prilutsky, executive vice president for RWJBarnabas Health and president and CEO of Jersey City Medical Center. "Our collaboration as a premier academic health system will help facilitate scientific advancement while supporting our mission of improving the health status of our communities." n