AMA and Sling Health expand engagement between physicians and entrepreneurs
The American Medical Association, in a news brief released on Friday, is collaborating with Sling Health, a student-run biotechnology incubator, to allow the voice and experience of physicians to inspire technologies that resolve unmet needs in healthcare delivery and clinical medicine.
AMA says the new Clinical Problem Database is designed to collect insights from physicians on needed improvements to clinical efficiency and patient care. “These real-world experiences are shared with Sling Health’s network of young entrepreneurs to foster cutting-edge medical technology development with attention to the clinical challenges faced by physicians.”
“Through our collaboration with Sling Health, the AMA is helping physicians and medical students take on a greater role in driving technology forward that responds to real clinical needs,” said Michael A. Tutty, Ph.D., M.H.A., group vice president, professional satisfaction and practice sustainability, AMA, in a statement.
“The best medical technologies directly tackle pressing clinical needs, enabling higher quality, less expensive, and more efficient care,” added Sling Health President Stephen W. Linderman. “Working with the physicians nationally through the AMA, teams of innovative students across the country are able to create new medical technology to address problems impacting providers on the front lines of patient care.”
Physicians are often overlooked when technology is being developed, they said, which could be a major reason why medical technology doesn’t satisfy or deliver as promised. Doctors spend a great deal of their time performing clerical tasks and navigating cumbersome systems. This overload of type-and-click tasks, said the AMA, leaves them feeling like they are neglecting their patients.
The new Clinical Problem Database is now featured on the AMA’s Physician Innovation Network (PIN), an online community that connects and matches physicians with digital health companies and entrepreneurs. Through the use of the PIN platform, the voice, experience and needs of physicians can be heard and incorporated into new products as they are developed.
Since PIN was launched in 2017, more than 3,000 physicians and medical students, as well as roughly 1,800 entrepreneurs, have participated in the online network. These matches have resulted in a range of collaborative activities, such operating-room workflow improvements, assisting to eliminate the guesswork for spinal punctures, piloting emerging solutions and identifying developers to co-develop solutions for pressing needs.
