Managing Chronic Conditions at Home: Boston Scientific's Connected Patient Challenge Calls for Digital Innovations

As healthcare shifts from the inpatient setting to outside the 4 walls of a health facility, innovations allow patients with chronic conditions to manage their health from the comfort of their own homes. Technologies such as mobile health apps and wearables give patients more control over both their treatment plans and their health data.

The Network for Excellence in Health Innovation (NEHI) recently outlined its roadmap for reinventing the healthcare system, called Health Care Without Walls. The idea, explained Susan Dentzer, visiting fellow at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and former president and chief executive officer of NEHI, is to move away from a sick care system to one that goes to people and delivers more care virtually.

In the vein of innovation, Boston Scientific is excited to announce its fifth annual Connected Patient Challenge, a campaign seeking digital health solutions to improve care at home that can prevent health crises and better manage chronic conditions.

“Events like this are so critical to raising awareness of the world of the possible and how you can drive really meaningful innovation,” David Feygin, PhD, MBA, the vice president of information technology and chief digital health officer at Boston Scientific, said at the 2018 event.

The challenge will bring together providers, institutions, patients, payers, and researchers from across the healthcare ecosystem with the goal of better understanding pain points in healthcare and how digital solutions can augment care for patients living at home with chronic diseases.

“We could not be more thrilled with the excitement and awareness that the Connected Patient Challenge has built in the digital health community,” David Knapp, PhD, vice president, corporate research at Boston Scientific, said in a statement to MedTech Boston. “We look forward to building on that in our fifth year as we turn our focus to care of chronic conditions at home for stakeholders across the ecosystem.”

Living comfortably and safely in one’s home rather than being hospitalized or at a treatment facility can improve patient outcomes and ultimately lower healthcare costs over time. It is essential to have tools to address neurological, digestive, respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, chronic pain, cancer, and pelvic health.

Being able to receive care in the home will become particularly important as the aging US population is choosing to stay in their own homes rather than go to the hospital or a nursing home to receive care. Technology has a role in aiding home-based care for older patients through remote monitoring, medication management, and safety technology, explained speakers at World Health Care Congress 2019.

Participants should consider how their digital health solution or device can benefit all stakeholders—patients, caregivers, clinicians, and payers.

Those who wish to enter may do so on the Boston Scientific Connected Patient Challenge website. Individuals or teams can submit their innovations, along with complementary images and videos for the outside community at large to view and vote for.

Along with crowdsourced voting, a panel of expert judges will vote and ultimately select 6 finalists to compete in a live pitch-off at Google’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in February. Finalists will have the opportunity to network with other innovators and experts.

First and second place winners will be announced for a share of up to $50,000 in in-kind services from Boston Scientific and Google.

“It really takes partnership and collaboration to solve some of the biggest challenges in healthcare today,” Feygin said.