Patients are the experts about their own bodies and their disease. We now have an unprecedented recognition by regulators and industry that patient experience is valuable. I recently read an interesting white paper published by the Harvard Business School that focused on a theoretical model for how the structure of “user communities” provides a unique context within which ideas and knowledge flow to generate innovation in commercial "firms". It occurred to me that this model could be applied to the relationship between patient communities and medical product industry to ensure that patient experience is a necessary component to product development. Though not a perfect fit, I believe this model could provide some guidance for a framework within the medical product industry and patient communities have greater authentic, transparent, and effective exchange of ideas to drive medical innovation.
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