Revolutionizing
Healthcare: Power of Open Innovation
Abstract:
[ro1]
Purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge and
skills to increase innovation in healthcare have allowed the generation of
solutions to social problems. The exchange of knowledge and ideas is made
easier by technological developments, such as digitalization. This study systematically
reviews existing literature to establish the transformative benefits of open
innovation in the healthcare sector. The findings are based on an analysis of
12 peer reviewed articles selected based on the PRISMA 2020 model. The findings
reveal that Open innovation has an impact on costs, patient and healthcare worker’s
outcomes, efficiency and workforce pressures in the healthcare industry.
Keywords
[ro2] Open Innovation, Healthcare Innovation, Healthcare
Transformation, Revolutionizing HealthCare, Digitalizing Healthcare
1.
Introduction
As
rising healthcare costs and an aging population worry systems worldwide, the
pressure for innovative solutions has never been greater. Yet, traditional
closed approaches may no longer efficiently meet these evolving challenges.
A new way of thinking about healthcare is being developed through open
innovation (OI). When novel concepts are brought to life and put to use, they
benefit end users (Gabriel et al., 2017). Open innovation is defined by Secundo
et al. (2019) as the intentional exchange of information with the goal of
fostering internal innovation and increasing external markets for innovation
(p. 144). According to Gabriel et al. (2017), when various sectors in the
healthcare industry work together, it’s called open innovation. According to
Dandonoli (2013), the open model encourages experts from all over the world to
work together to solve complex problems. On top of that, open innovation breaks
down the conventional barriers to sharing information and resources. The
opposite is true; it establishes a transparent model that facilitates
cross-institutional cooperation. For various reasons and in the face of unique
obstacles, healthcare organizations find value in the collaborative efforts of
open innovation.
The
fact that the healthcare sector encounters conflicting interests is what drives
the necessity of embracing open innovation. Many different types of
stakeholders in the healthcare industry each have specific requirements, as
pointed out by Secundo et al. (2019). Patients, suppliers, payers, providers,
and regulators are all part of the healthcare industry. A number of factors,
including competing demands, influences, and priorities, affect the
participants. For example, patients, who are the primary “lead
users,” have unanticipated needs and stand to gain from any remedies that
may be bestowed upon them. In an innovative ecosystem, the authors state that
the most critical factor is players’ motivation, which impacts their actions
(p. 147). Reducing costs, improving service delivery, and keeping an eye on
regulations are the main reasons regulators do their jobs. Better working
conditions, efficiency, fewer hospitalizations, and a better quality of life
for patients are all things that providers strive for. Concurrently, suppliers
aim to enhance research activities and increase profits, while payers seek to
reduce costs and monitor hospital efficiency. Finding new and effective
treatment options, improving patients’ quality of life, and decreasing their
time spent in the hospital are all motivating factors.
Moreover, open
innovation is essential due to the healthcare industry’s complex challenges. As
a service industry, meeting the needs of patients and their families remains a
challenge (Berry, 2019). The authors argue that the healthcare industry faces
challenges such as increasing costs, the complexity of healthcare systems, the
high emotion of the care delivery system, increasing competition, technological
advancements, nurse burnout, cynicism, and reduced work effectiveness (p. 80).
In addition, the increasing workload driven by growing patient needs, reduced
autonomy, inefficient processes, and increased documentation exacerbates the
nursing shortage in the healthcare industry. However, the healthcare sector
continues to offer untapped opportunities for innovation associated with
inefficiency. Owing to the critical role of open innovation in enhancing
efficiency (Dandonoli, 2013; Gabriel et al., 2017; Secundo et al., 2019), the
question remains: what are the transformative benefits that open innovation can
provide to healthcare? This paper aims to review existing studies on open
innovation in healthcare. The goal is to understand how open innovation practices
may help address some of the key challenges facing the healthcare sector.
Identifying specific transformative benefits of open innovation for healthcare
could offer insights into how it can help enhance efficiency, reduce costs,
improve patient outcomes and experiences, and help alleviate workforce
pressures. The rest of this paper is structured as
follow. The first section introduces the shift from the traditional innovation
paradigm to the new one in healthcare. Then followed by the adopted method to
identify the transformative benefits of open innovation in health care. The
third section exposes the results and their discussion. Then we conclude with
implications and limitations of our study
2.
Open
innovation in helathcare
Innovation is still very
important for the healthcare industry to advance and grow. (Menon & Jaffer,
2021). Medical innovation encompasses the creation of new medicines, tools,
processes, procedures, and models for the delivery of healthcare (Aceto et al.,
2018). Innovations in healthcare primarily fall into three categories:
technology, organizations, and services. Technological advancements make
improvements in clinical capacities, diagnostics, and treatment possible (Menon
& Jaffer, 2021). To enhance the effectiveness and standard of care,
organizations are constantly innovating their structures, procedures, and
administrative roles (Menon & Jaffer, 2021). Better care coordination and
more individualized interactions are at the heart of service innovations to
improve patients’ experiences.
Advances in information and
communication technology have profoundly affected the healthcare industry’s
capacity for innovation. The industry has been transformed by the widespread
adoption of electronic health records, telehealth services, mobile health apps,
and wearable devices (Aceto et al., 2018). According to Aceto et al. (2018),
electronic health records have dramatically improved information sharing among
providers across different settings and simplified clinical workflows. The
result is better care coordination and more efficiency. Rural and outlying
areas now have easier access to healthcare thanks to advancements in telehealth
that allow for remote monitoring, treatment, and consultation. Machine learning
and artificial intelligence have the potential to process massive amounts of
medical data, which could lead to advances in areas such as assistive
diagnostics, drug discovery, and predictive analytics.
Health outcomes can be improved
through the development of technologies that allow for remote management long
term conditions from the comfort of one’s home. Examples include the
advancement and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the diagnosis of
patients (Berry, 2019). According to Aceto et al. (2018), problems that have
persisted over time in the healthcare sector, such as the prevalence of age-related
chronic illnesses, can be addressed through the fresh approaches to technology
and services offered by genuine disruptive innovations (Aceto et al., 2018). Despite
extensive digitalization in the healthcare sector, there are still many
unrealized potentials (Herzlinger, 2006). Healthcare innovations help improve
efficiency, accessibility, affordability, effective care delivery models, and
reimbursement of diverse services.
While digitization has improved healthcare in
many ways, many unrealized potentials for innovation have persisted
(Herzlinger, 2006). [ro3] Problems that have persisted over time necessitate fresh approaches
to technology and services, which genuine disruptive innovations could offer.
For example, healthcare systems are currently overwhelmed by the prevalence of
age-related chronic diseases (Aceto et al., 2018). The development of
technologies that allow for the remote management of long-term conditions from
the comfort of one’s own home has the potential to improve outcomes, quality of
life, and cost-effectiveness. Similarly, advancements in artificial
intelligence (AI)-based diagnostic assistants are just one example of how
medical mistakes are still happening at alarming rates (Berry, 2019).
Healthcare innovations aid in improving efficiency, accessibility,
affordability, effective care delivery models, and reimbursement of diverse
services.
To
improve healthcare efficiency, accessibility, and affordability, new models of
care delivery and reimbursement that incorporate various provider types are
possible to develop.The shift from traditional to
open innovation within the healthcare sector represents a significant Change in
how innovation is approached, implemented, and commercialized. Embracing the
principles of open innovation and utilizing external knowledge, resources, and
expertise allows healthcare organizations to drive substantial improvements in
patient outcomes. However, this transition poses its own challenges, requiring
careful consideration of healthcare’s unique regulatory environment, the
necessity of engaging patients, the complexities surrounding data sharing, and
the value of fostering collaborative partnerships (Aceto et al., 2018; Brinton
et al.,2013; Coccia, 2016;Gabriel et al., 2017;Menon & Jaffer,2021).
Overcoming these obstacles and seizing the opportunities presented by open
innovation enables healthcare organizations to establish themselves as leaders
in innovation, facilitating positive changes within the healthcare landscape.[MOU4]
In the healthcare sector, Open
innovation represents a paradigm shift on how organizations approach
innovation. It enables the development of new approaches and technologies that
have a positive impact on the healthcare sector. Contemporary open innovation
has helped healthcare organizations cope with the demystifying effects of
extreme health conditions (). Healthcare providers benefit from open innovation
during pandemics and epidemics, where there is urgent need to control the
spread and severity of disease. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic led to an
increase in emergencies, which required development of new strategies to help
attend to the high number of patients in health care facilities (Liu et al.,
2022). As a recent innovative strategy to address healthcare issues, Telehealth
has aided in the development of reliable models for information storage. The
technology has significantly enhanced the precision in treatment of various health
conditions.
Collaborative approaches in open
innovation incorporate partnerships and strategic alliances between
stakeholders, individuals or organizations, with the aim of collectively generating,
and leveraging resources, and knowledge.Open innovation’s collaborative approaches [ro5] could accelerate healthcare solution development and dissemination. Prior
research indicated that open innovation management successfully leveraged
external knowledge to initiate the development of new technologies (Coccia,
2016). Finding inefficiencies that drove innovations resulted from
multidisciplinary needs-based open innovation (Brinton et al., 2013). Better
results were associated with adopting novel care integration models achieved
through transparent cooperation. Liu, Shi, & Yang (2022) state that open
innovation encourages cooperation and flexibility in healthcare, which speeds
up responses to new challenges.
In addition, open innovation
establishes a living ecosystem that allows for the rapid evaluation,
improvement, and confirmation of concepts (Gabriel et al., 2017). A good
example of how to apply open innovation in healthcare is the Stanford Biodesign
process, which involves interdisciplinary teams working to address clinical
needs (Brinton et al., 2013). A comparable approach to open problem-solving was
pursued by Intermountain Healthcare (Berry, 2019). Using open principles, the
Mass Challenge accelerator program helps startups that deal with problems faced
by providers, payers, and patients (Gabriel et al., 2017). It is possible to
use open processes, as shown in the American Hospital Association’s
crowdsourced innovation challenge.
The capacity to combat the problem of increasing
costs is yet another significant benefit of open innovation strategies in
healthcare. We urgently require more cost-effective solutions as healthcare
expenditures continue to rise worldwide and pressure budgets. The cost crisis
can be better addressed through open innovation, which seeks solutions from a
wider community, including those outside the conventional healthcare industry (Gabriel
et al.,2017). There is a greater chance that this broader talent pool will come
up with ground-breaking, game-changing ideas that could drastically cut costs.[ro6]
Open innovation initiatives aim to facilitate
the ideation process among patients, providers, and stakeholders from various
sectors. This might lead to the discovery of new therapeutic technologies and models
of resource-efficient care delivery (Brinton, 2017). [ro7] Open processes have effectively brought together diverse
organizations’ expertise to advance innovations collaboratively with lower
costs.
More research [ro8] into this advantage of open innovation is needed to assist in the
financial sustainability of healthcare, particularly in light of the current
emphasis on reducing unnecessary expenditure through open collaboration (Gabriel
et al., 2017; Aceto et al., 2018).
Several
factors encourage open innovation in healthcare. However, this is limited by
the existing rules governing the sharing of intellectual property, particularly
those relating to value capture.. Strong leadership, supportive organizational
culture, dedicated innovation teams, and spaces encourage ideation and
experimentation apart from constraints (Gabriel et al., 2017; Aceto et al.,
2018). Collaborations between different companies eliminate silos and bring
together complementary expertise to propel innovations ahead (Menon &
Jaffer, 2021). Intellectual property policies that encourage collaboration
instead of rivalry encourage more involvement and the exchange of information.
The review[ro9] indicates that open innovation
has the potential to transform the healthcare sector if barriers are addressed
and enabling factors are emphasized (da Palma, 2020: Pundziene et al., 2023:
Dwyer, 2023). A number of major themes emerged from the synthesis regarding
open innovation adoption, outcomes, and challenges within the industry. Studies
have highlighted factors facilitating the successful implementation of open
innovation approaches. A supportive organizational culture that embraced
collaboration, experimentation, and risk-taking was commonly reported as
important (Aceto et al., 2018). Leadership from the top that actively
encouraged and sponsored innovative initiatives also emerged as a key enabler
(Gabriel et al., 2017; Menon & Jaffer, 2021). Dedicated internal resources
like innovation teams, spaces, and project funding helped stimulate new ideas,
apart from budget constraints.
Open
innovation was linked to the accelerated advancement of new technologies, care,
and treatment models[ro10] . The research found it effectively initiated inventions through
harnessing foreign knowledge and problems (Coccia, 2016; Brinton et al., 2013).
Cross-sector collaborations combine unique abilities and scale for greater
impact (Menon & Jaffer, 2021). Needs-based solutions drove user-centered
design to address unmet needs and improve understanding. Legislative intricacy around novel
approaches was a recurring barrier. Risk aversion and reluctance to share
intellectual property also hampered collaboration between organizations. A lack
of clear strategies and accountability for innovation paralyzed some efforts.[ro11]
Methodology
The systematic review was conducted based on the guidelines provided in
the PRISMA conventions (2020). Journal articles were systematically identified,
screened and synthesized based on the guidelines. The articles were obtained
from six electronic databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL
and the Cochrane Library. The search term used to locate the articles included,
open innovation, Healthcare Innovation, Healthcare Transformation, Revolutionizing
Healthcare, Digitalizing Healthcare.
The initial selection was done by reviewing the title and abstracts of
the articles located using the search terms, to ensure that the articles dealt
with the transformative benefits of open innovation in the health care
industry. Both empirical and theoretical studies were included in the study. However,
the theoretical studies were few. Regarding the year of publication, only
articles published between 2010 and 2014 were included. Articles with little to
no information regarding open innovation and its benefits in the context of
healthcare were excluded. Additionally, only articles written in English and
with the full text available and accessible were selected.
319 articles were identified from databases and registers. After
screening the full text and screening the abstracts for eligibility, 300
articles were removed, and only nine met the requirements of the inclusion
criteria. Additionally, 20 articles were identified through websites,
organizations, and citation searching. After screening their abstracts and full
texts for eligibility, 17 articles were removed, and only 3 articles met the
requirements of the inclusion criteria. Eventually, only 12 articles were
included in the analysis.
Results and Discussion
References
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[ro1]We need to write the abstract
[ro2]Propose five keywords
[ro3]It seems to
have encountered a coherence issue. The text references a source from 2006,
which appears after we’ve already introduced information from a more recent
2018 source. This sequence might confuse readers regarding the chronological
development of ideas or findings
[MOU4]The shift from traditional innovation to open
innovation in healthcare
[ro5]We should introduce
them before. If not it will create a confusion for the reader. I mean OI
collaborative approaches
[ro6]Reference ???
[ro7]Idem
[ro8]Give references
[ro9]We should precise who
?
[ro10]The reference
[ro11]Why are you talking about this??
[MOU12]Professor Rachid Oumlil
