CHICAGO — As part of its ongoing work to shape and support effective digital health innovation using physician expertise, the American Medical Association (AMA) today announced an online platform designed to bring physicians and health tech companies together to develop and improve health care technology solutions. The new Physician Innovation Network is an online community where physicians can find and connect with companies and entrepreneurs who are seeking physician input in the development of health care technology products and services.

The Physician Innovation Network provides an open online forum for physicians to explore paid and volunteer opportunities to collaborate with health tech companies, and allows companies to search for physicians with specific expertise who are interested in and can offer feedback on their solutions. The platform also provides both physicians and health tech entrepreneurs with opportunities to learn from like-minded innovators and medical professionals, including access to virtual panel discussions with experts.

“The AMA is committed to shaping a future where digital health tools are evidence-based, validated, interoperable, and actionable to ensure patients are receiving high-quality care. To make this a reality, the AMA is working with leaders across health care who are keenly focused on technologies that work better for patients and physicians and seeking ways to bring the physician voice into the innovation space,” said AMA President David O. Barbe, M.D. “We know that when physician expertise is aligned with input from partners on the leading edge of health technology, we produce meaningful results. The Physician Innovation Network will help ensure that physicians play a greater role in leading digital health innovations that expand the bounds of science, enhance patient care, and shape a better health care system, and improve the health of the nation.”

The AMA will continue to expand its efforts to advance digital health innovation by providing physicians with additional opportunities to engage in innovation and share their ideas, expertise and real-world perspective on the effectiveness of technology in medical practice settings. The AMA’s most recent efforts to spur innovative health solutions between health tech companies and physicians include the following collaborations:

• Announced last week, the AMA’s new Integrated Health Model Initiative (IHMI) is bringing together the health and technology sectors around a common data model that is missing in health care. Participation in IHMI is open to all health care and technology stakeholders, and early collaborators include IBM, Cerner, Intermountain Healthcare, American Heart Association, American Medical Informatics Association, and a growing list of other organizations.
• The AMA is the founding partner of Health2047, a health care innovation company that bridges the gap between Silicon Valley and the medical community by partnering with established companies to optimize their entries in the health care marketplace, co-developing products, and originating early-stage ideas aimed at transforming health care.
• The AMA has expanded its partnership with MATTER, Chicago’s health care technology incubator, to allow entrepreneurs and physicians to collaborate on the development of new technologies, services and products in a simulated health care environment.
• The AMA is working in collaboration with Sling Health, a student-run biotechnology incubator, which helps inspire and support the next generation of young entrepreneurs to tackle unmet needs in health care delivery and clinical medicine.
• The AMA is one of four founding organizations of Xcertia, a collaboration dedicated to improving the quality, safety and effectiveness of mobile health applications.