Can B.C. healthcare "move fast and break things" or is there a better way to innovate?
For healthtech startups, finding access to the healthcare system can feel like a search for the holy grail. Even companies that are fortunate enough to have physicians or nurses on their leadership team struggle in finding partners within the system to facilitate use, do evaluations, and provide user feedback. Moreover, most innovations in healthcare require extensive research before adoption because of the necessary and significant regulatory requirements for patient protection. Further, healthcare research is a process that requires contribution from many experts in research design, significant approval barriers (both ethics and contractual), a sophisticated infrastructure and commitment of resources. From a technology startup's perspective, healthcare is often considered the most difficult to enter and succeed.
There are deep, systematic barriers to the development of innovations within the B.C. health system, notwithstanding the notable exceptions of significant success. Some companies fail and others leave B.C. to develop their innovations elsewhere and we then buy their products at a significant mark-up. We will explore some of the systematic disincentives for healthcare providers to engage with new innovations and why innovators are often so very frustrated.
What would happen if we changed the narrative? What would happen if we "pulled" innovations into the healthcare system and carefully evaluated them? How do we best capture some of the value of new innovations in our healthcare system? How can we keep the patient at the center of an innovation ecosystem, while we improve care through prudent partnerships?
About Dr. Steve Reynolds, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Steve Reynolds, MD, FRCPC is the current Executive Lead Institute for Advancing Innovations in Medicine (AIM). AIM is program piloted out of Royal Columbian Hospital that helps discover, develop and commercialize innovative ideas in the healthcare sector. In addition to AIM, Dr. Reynolds keeps busy working in the Internal Medicine & Infectious Diseases in the Critical Care Unit, also holding a TB Vets Professorship in Critical Care at Simon Fraser University. Lastly, Dr. Reynolds is Head to the Critical Care Bench to Bedside (C2B2) Lab. For more information on the foundation, check it out here: www.c2b2.net
About Loki Jorgenson
Loki is the current Senior Director, Strategy & Innovation for Circle Innovation. With more than a decade's worth of experience in the health tech sector, he currently leads his team in helping small and medium companies in health tech to develop products faster, scale their business and pursue new opportunities. Read more about Circle Innovation here: https://www.circleinnovation.ca/
Questions? Contact Alissa Villanueva (alissa@vantechjournal.com)
#VTJTalks: Can BC healthcare "move fast and break things" or is there a better way to innovate?
When: Tuesday, March 12
Time: 4:45-6:45pm
Where: Convergence - 1500-777 Hornby Street, Vancouver
(**Please note doors lock at 6:00pm sharp and the venue will not be accessible after that. We encourage you to arrive early to avoid any challenges with getting in.)
Tickets: $25 - register online
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Special thank you to Convergence for hosting this live workshop! https://cctech.io/
Thank you to our corporate community!
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