Innovation and Adoption of Technologies to Support Healthy Aging - Literature Perspectives: Policy Brief

Innovation and adoption of technologies to support healthy aging – Literature perspectives

SUBJECT:

• Policy and regulatory facilitators and barriers to the successful innovation and adoption of health technologies for aging-related technologies.

ISSUE:

• Technologies can help older adults maintain their independence, health and quality of life, and increase their safety and security. However, innovators often struggle to navigate complex innovation and approval processes and bring their technologies to market.

BACKGROUND:

• PRI-TECH (Policy and Regulatory Issues in Enabling Health Technology) is part of a larger study funded by AGE-WELL, a national research network (NCE) focused on aging and technology. This project explores current policy, regulatory, and health system issues relevant to the evaluation, approval, regulation and reimbursement of technologies to support healthy aging.
• PRI-TECH conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature from 2000-October 2016. Identified barriers and facilitators were mapped across common innovation stages (Development, Assessment, and Implementation). Overarching themes that cut across innovation stages were identified: Canadian Policy Context, Resources and Partnerships (See Appendix A and B).

CONSIDERATIONS:

• Our review identified facilitators to and barriers (Appendix B) related to the Canadian policy context, resources, and partnerships as they relate to technology development, assessment and implementation. This context impacts how scarce resources are allocated, what partnerships get formed (and those that do not), what technologies get developed, how they are evaluated and which populations they target. • The barriers outlined result in the development of health technologies without clear applications in the Canadian health care systems, while major health care challenges go unaddressed by technology developers.
• Health care systems usually operate on a global budget and funds cannot be easily transferred between departments or organizations, creating challenges such as that investment by one organization may accrue savings to a different organization. Many health care organizations to not rely on a formal process to allocate resources, but rather base their decisions on routine, historical precedent or political factors. Such structural and funding issues can impede adoption of innovations.
• Policy processes may differ for technologies, based on their site of use. For example, a preventative, home-monitoring system could be relevant to the home and community care sector, which might have different adoption and implementation challenges than a technology such as an MRI machine, to be used in an acute care setting.
• The scoping review identified limited work with a specific focus on older adults. Additional work is needed to ensure technological innovation policies can accommodate the unique characteristics of technologies to support aging in place.

CONCLUSIONS:

• Health system structures and current funding models may be more significant barriers than regulatory processes in enabling the successful development and adoption of technologies to support healthy aging in Canada.
• PRI-TECH aims to consult with AGE-WELL innovators individually go relay the findings of this study to help them understand and overcome barriers for successful adoption and implementation of the technologies they are developing. We have also been exploring and extending our findings through interviews with key stakeholder groups.
• Knowledge translation of this work is expected to vary by sector with specific implications and related products for policy makers, innovators, health system players and industry stakeholders.