#AHA17: A Discussion with Maulik Majmudar, MD on the Health Tech Summit
In This Article
- Maulik Majmudar, MD, cardiologist and associate director of the Healthcare Transformation Lab at Mass General, chairs the Health Tech Summit at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions
- The summit explores the role of technology in the management and prevention of cardiovascular disease
- Dr. Majmudar answers questions about the importance of health technology and the role that technology conversations play at conferences like the Scientific Sessions
At this year’s AHA Scientific Sessions, Maulik Majmudar, MD, cardiologist and associate director of the Healthcare Transformation Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital, chairs the day-long Health Tech Summit.
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The summit explores the role of technology in the management and prevention of cardiovascular disease. It also examines ways to encourage innovation and collaboration in the marketplace, and ultimately, make strides towards a defined health technology road map with the goal of improving patient outcomes.
Here, Dr. Majmudar answers some questions about the importance of health technology and the role that technology conversations play at conferences like the Scientific Sessions.
Q: What is mission of the Health Tech Summit?
A: Beyond the goal of exploring the role of technology in both managing and preventing cardiovascular disease, the mission of the Health Tech Summit is to provide an opportunity to raise awareness among, as well as educate, cardiovascular professionals about the role of emerging technologies such as mobile, digital health and data science.
Q: Innovation is a key driver in health technology. How important is it to the cardiovascular field to have conversations at forums like the Health Tech Summit?
A: I cannot overemphasize the importance of the Health Tech Summit at the AHA Scientific Sessions. Advances in technology have led to the transformation of many industries. But health care has been slow to change. Due to significant cost pressures, there is a growing interest in the development, validation and dissemination of technology-enabled care models to achieve the quadruple aim of health care: improve health outcomes, reduce costs of care and improve patient and provider experiences.
Q: What outcomes do you hope to see from the Health Tech Summit?
A: The call to action beyond this one-day event is to get cardiovascular professionals to understand and acknowledge the potential for technology to transform cardiovascular care delivery. However, we also want them to be skeptical and recognize that there is a significant evidence gap around some of these novel digital health solutions. Therefore, we need clinicians and researchers to apply their rigorous scientific methods to validate the safety and efficacy of these products, and by doing so, drive regulatory approvals and reimbursement strategies, which are essential for wide-scale adoption.
Q: How does health technology apply to Mass General’s Healthcare Transformation Lab—especially in your role as associate director?
A: At the Healthcare Transformation Lab, our mission is to improve the experience and value of health care through collaborative innovation. A key tenant of our vision for care delivery transformation is the discovery, development and deployment of novel technology-enabled care models. A few examples include the use of digital health tools such as mobile apps and video visits to improve the communication and coordination of care for our patients, as well as the patient experience.
We have several programs to engage the entire Mass General community in the process of innovation, such as the Ether Dome Challenge, an open innovation competition designed to improve engagement and collaboration among our staff. We also partner with members of the Boston innovation ecosystem, such as Pulse@MassChallenge, to pilot novel health care solutions targeted at key strategic priorities of our organization, such as reducing no-show rates and improving patient access.
We strongly believe that technology will play a critical role in our journey to provide high-touch, high quality care in a cost-effective manner. But for us to convince ourselves and our colleagues to adopt these solutions, we need to systematically validate them in the right clinical environments and rigorously measure their impact on patients, providers and the health system.
Learn more about Mass General's participation at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions
Visit the Corrigan Minehan Heart Center