Connected Patient Challenge: Boston Scientific Issues Call for New Digital Tools to Better Manage Chronic Conditions

As healthcare shifts from the inpatient setting to outside the four walls of a health facility, innovations allow patients with chronic conditions to manage their health from the comfort of their own homes. Video chat allows patients to see a doctor in the comfort of their home, while apps and wearable technology have revolutionized how health can be monitored remotely.

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, 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 IT 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.”

Boston Scientific hopes the challenge will foster a conversation about chronic conditions and lead to life-changing innovations such as diagnostics, devices, therapies, or patient management programs.

Living comfortably and safe 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.

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 six 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.