Ryan Bradley, a senior editor of Fortune, just wrote an article about his experience with a case competition at the Boston University School of Management. The competition was sponsored by Microsoft and Merck, and it’s goal was to “leverage information technology to transform global health care and create value.” In simpler terms, the two companies were asking students what solutions their businesses could provide for current health care challenges and crises. In return, the sponsors offered the winner or winning team a $22,500 check, plus support in launching their business.
Ryan Bradley called his piece “Stop Playing Games with Health Care,” a reference to his frustration with the number of businesses that were centered around gamifying medical treatment compliance. These businesses all aimed to reduce health care expenditures of hundreds of billions of dollars for treatments for patients with chronic conditions who become sick or injured because they do not take all of their required medication or follow a treatment schedule as ordered. The Boston University Case Competition companies that produced different smartphone apps to encourage patients to follow treatment plans by awarding them points for compliance, or by offering other incentives.
Representatives from the sponsoring companies directly gave feedback to the teams, and not all of it was positive. According to Bradley, a Merck representative questioned the gamification concept: “why would you make a game out of taking a pill? This will never be fun.” Judges from both Microsoft and Merck suggested that the health care innovations with the most potential would require a minimum of patient input. It is easy to forget to make a note in a smartphone app every time you take a medication or eat a particular food, and even easier to lie to a phone about whether you have followed your treatment plan.
The competition winners stood out to the author as unique amongst the game apps. The winning team created a mobile clinic in a backpack. The bag was stuffed with a lensless microscope, equipment for diagnostic tests, a solar battery charger, and a pulse oximeter. The equipment would allow a doctor to collect essential health data while working in the developing world, and could also be effective in rural parts of developed nations. The author concluded that making mundane tasks fun can be valuable, but sometimes a practical solution is best.