Innovation

Tampa, Fla.-based Shriners Hospitals for Children has formed a research partnership with Atlanta-based Georgia Institute of Technology to develop devices and software to address neuromuscular conditions in pediatric patients.

Health2047, the American Medical Association's innovation enterprise, announced on Feb. 27 its fourth spinout company: Medcurio, which develops software to improve healthcare organizations' data access and usage.

The Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Carey Business School received a $25 million gift from its namesake foundation to enhance the school's two innovation-focused MBA tracks, one of which focuses on healthcare technology.

The Center for Healthcare Innovation at Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Wake Forest Baptist Health has formed a partnership with blockchain-secured data management startup Fluree to build a data integration and review tool, per a Feb. 25 news release.

The American Hospital Association has begun accepting proposals for its 2020 innovation challenge, which calls for ideas and strategies to increase access, reduce costs and improve outcomes in the realm of behavioral health.

University of Waterloo researchers developed a prototype system that uses artificial intelligence software and microwaves to identify small, early-stage breast cancer tumors within minutes, according to a Feb. 24 news release.

Although artificial intelligence has been influencing healthcare for years, healthcare leaders say the industry needs to adopt AI solutions at a more rapid pace, according to a KPMG survey.

As is often the case with far-reaching, change-signaling workplace strategies, even as it increases in importance and prevalence, innovation is at risk of becoming nothing more than a buzzword, derided and dreaded by employees across all levels of an organization.

A renovated wing of Houston Methodist's flagship hospital will serve as a "laboratory environment" for clinicians and patients to test out new technologies developed and deployed by the health system's Center for Innovation.

An anonymous Cleveland Clinic patient donated $2 million to endow a new position, chair for geriatric innovation, at the health system, with Ardeshir Hashmi, MD, selected as the first to hold the title, per a Feb. 18 news release.