last week, Houston Methodist Church Be the first healthcare-focused entity iona 16-acre innovation district established by the City of Houston, Rice University.
The health system is still building space there, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The 1,200-square-foot space will be modeled after the Houston Methodist Innovation Technology Center Centerat its flagship hospital.
Center for Innovation and Technology to open in 2020 with labs An environment for experimenting with patient-centered digital health tools, initially focusing on speech technology/natural language processing, wearables, and virtual reality. Houston Methodist’s space in Ion will be a smaller replica of the center.
The space will be used for networking and information programming with other companies and entrepreneurs in Ion. Houston Methodist wants to use local talent to help them build digital health tools for its smart hospitals, Michelle Stansbury, vice president of innovation and IT applications for Houston Methodist Health System, said in an interview. She noted that because Houston has so many innovative companies emerging and many forward-thinking thinkers are moving to Texas, the health system sees an opportunity to capitalize on the opportunity, rather than relying solely on partnerships with suppliers across the country or overseas. relation.
“When you think about digital technology, it’s not about the industry — it’s about the industry,” Stansbury said. “Every organization is looking at digital approaches to help improve the overall customer experience, no matter who their customers are, yes. Our ultimate goal at Ion is to bring healthcare into the space because we believe it is an untapped industry.”
Houston Methodist’s Ion space will help the health system identify new ways to leverage digital technology at its eighth smart hospital, which is currently under construction.Houston Methodist Cypress Hospital is Scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2025. The health system is focused on using robotics to automate processes in new hospitals, as well as implementing consumer-friendly messaging and payment technology, to provide patients with the convenience they prefer, Stansbury said.
Stansbury noted that the health system has piloted several key projects since the first innovation centre opened two years ago.
The first is an ambient listening tool developed by Houston Methodist for its doctors and clinics Amazon. The tool uses natural language processing to capture all the documents an appointment needs and feed it into the EHR right away. It’s also coded, so when a doctor issues a bill, all they have to do is sign it. According to Stansbury, the technology is still being tested, but could be rolled out across the system as early as next year.
Houston Methodist and Amazon are also experimenting with a voice skill for the operating room, which will pair with Amazon’s Alexa. Surgeons and other clinicians in the operating room can use the tool to complete procedural steps—such as administering anesthesia, applying tourniquets, and taking X-rays—all without touching a computer. The tool also allows users to confirm to the voice assistant that they have completed every action on the list.
Going forward, Stansbury said one of Houston Methodist’s innovation priorities will be working with biosensor groups to see if wearable technology can be meaningfully adopted in hospitals. Rather than considering the more popular use of biosensors in the home setting, health systems see the technology as an ongoing collection of patient data that can be used by care teams to develop more timely and targeted care plans.
Photo: Khanisorn Chaokla, Getty Images
