10 Reasons the Healthcare Industry is Still Not Innovating in 2021

In a recent radio interview, I talked about why the healthcare industry is in an excellent position to disrupt itself from within by leveraging emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, predictive analytics, and personalization techniques.

In that interview, I focused on the reasons why the healthcare industry has the potential to be innovative.

But that was only half the story.

In this article, I’ll cover the reasons why innovation still continues to be an illusive dream for many executives in the healthcare industry. Why “can innovate” abruptly becomes a “won’t innovate” in reality.

This isn’t an attempt to blame the industry for its predicament. On the contrary. I believe that recognizing the problem is half of the solution. Which is why every executive in the healthcare space should look for the following signs within their organization—and be actively trying to solve them.

But first, what exactly is innovation? Sure, we hear the term thrown around to the point that it’s become a much-hyped buzzword, but what does it really mean in practice?

According to a new report submitted to the Secretary of US commerce titled “Innovation Measurement: Tracking the State of Innovation in the American Economy”, the definition of innovation is as follows:

“The design, invention, development and/or implementation of new or altered products, services, processes, systems, organization structures or business models for the purpose of creating new value for customers and financial returns for the firm.”