Mayo Clinic wants to help digital health more quickly—and more cost-effectively—bring its innovations into the hospital.
This week, the system and its data science and technology unit, Mayo Clinic Platform, unveiled the Solutions Studio program. “From idea to integration into clinical workflows,” the program gives partners access to the system’s global, federated de-identified data as well as access to dozens of Mayo Clinic Care Network member hospitals.
"Solution developers typically need several years and millions of dollars to bring a digital health solution to the point of care,” Steve Bethke, vice president of product portfolio for Mayo Clinic Platform, said in the announcement. “Solutions Studio will accelerate the rate at which these solutions can be developed and implemented, enabling better patient outcomes, higher operational efficiencies and a lower cost of care."
Off the bat, digital health companies that partner with Mayo for the program will have their offerings assessed and qualified by the system’s experts to “break through the credibility and trust barrier,” according to the program’s website.
“For Solutions Studio, Mayo Clinic Platform developed a rigorous, proprietary qualification process to evaluate digital health solutions and ensure they are fair, appropriate, valid and effective," John Halamka, M.D., president of Mayo Clinic Platform (and an honoree in this year’s Fierce 50), said in the announcement.
The program would then simplify the process to integrate the digital health tool into clinical workflows as well as offer standardized contracting processes, marketing opportunities, implementation services and a “library of tools with analytics and federated training capabilities,” the system said.
Mayo Clinic Platform heads cited in the announcement said the program is particularly timely with the onset of several new healthcare AI products. They noted that Mayo Clinic was among the founding members of the Coalition for Health AI—an industry partnership focused on responsible AI development and use in healthcare—and that many of that effort’s guiding principles make up the heart of Solutions Studio.
"There is a lot of excitement around the transformative potential of AI in healthcare, but it will only be possible if providers have the tools necessary to demystify and use AI responsibly in clinical care,” Sonya Makhni, M.D., medical director of solutions for Mayo Clinic Platform, said in the announcement.
Digital health companies interested in the program can apply to join online.
The Rochester, Minnesota-based nonprofit system launched Mayo Clinic Platform in 2019 as a sort of “innovation factory” for novel technologies in healthcare, Halamka told Fierce Healthcare shortly after taking his role at the helm in 2020. Mayo Clinic’s recent financial filings showed that 28 developers were using the platform during 2023 and that it has a potential impact on 45 million lives.