{"id":35632,"date":"2018-11-13T19:39:17","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T00:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/when-hhs-becomes-ios-harnessing-open-innovation-to-combat-the-us-opioid-crisis\/"},"modified":"2018-11-13T19:39:17","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T00:39:17","slug":"when-hhs-becomes-ios-harnessing-open-innovation-to-combat-the-us-opioid-crisis","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/when-hhs-becomes-ios-harnessing-open-innovation-to-combat-the-us-opioid-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"When HHS becomes iOS: Harnessing Open Innovation to Combat the US Opioid Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US opioid epidemic has rapidly evolved into one of the most significant national health crises in recent history. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimates that opioid overdose contributed to over 49,000 deaths in 2017, a nearly 250% increase from 2010 (see figure 1)1<\/sup>. Positively, preliminary data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that opioid-related deaths have declined three percent from September 2017 to March 20182<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Figure 1: US Overdose Deaths Involving Opioid Drugs. Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse. \u201cNational Overdose Deaths\u2014Number of Deaths Involving Opioid Drugs,\u201d https:\/\/www.drugabuse.gov\/related-topics\/trends-statistics\/overdose-death-rates, accessed November 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HHS: Open for Innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the apparent slowing of opioid-related deaths, much work remains. In addition to the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act (signed into law in October 2018)3<\/sup> and an extensive list of private-sector partnerships to help deliver solutions to address the opioid crisis4<\/sup>, HHS has announced a five-point strategy to combat the crisis (see figure 2)5<\/sup>. Given the unique challenges of the opioid crisis \u2013 including flight to illicit drugs as prescriptions are curtailed and significant under-diagnosis and underreporting of opioid use \u2013 HHS is looking to open innovation to help address the challenges ahead6<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Figure 2: HHS\u2019s 5-Point Strategy. Source: US Department of Health and Human Services. \u201c5-Point Strategy To Combat the Opioid Crisis,\u201d https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/opioids\/about-the-epidemic\/hhs-response\/index.html, accessed November 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fortunately for HHS, it is not the first organization to apply open innovation outside of Wikipedia, iOS, or Linux. Chesbrough and Crowther (2006) find that while open innovation has historically been reserved for high-technology industries, firms in other industries are increasingly \u2013 and successfully \u2013 employing such approaches to solve their own business challenges7<\/sup>. Further, HHS is not the first government agency to consider innovation tournaments: in 2010, President Obama launched Challenge.gov, a federal prize competition platform that awarded more than $150 million from 2010 to 20158<\/sup>. If open innovation works for non-high-technology businesses and the Obama White House, why not HHS?<\/p>\n

Code-a-Thons: Exploit, Don\u2019t Explore<\/strong><\/p>\n

In December 2017, HHS held its first Opioid Code-a-Thon. The event was structured as an innovation tournament, with 50 teams competing for a $10,000 prize in each of the three challenge tracks: treatment, usage, and prevention.9<\/sup> Examples of winning submissions include Telesphora (treatment), which allows real-time tracking of opioid overdoses, and Visionist (prevention), which introduced \u201cTake Back America,\u201d a live-updating map of pharmacies where patients can return unused opioids10,11<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

What was HHS hoping to accomplish with the Code-a-Thon? King and Lakhani (2013) provide a helpful matrix to evaluate innovation approaches (see figure 3). HHS\u2019s Code-a-Thon falls into the \u201cinnovation tournament\u201d category, comprising externally-generated ideas that are internally selected.12<\/sup> This categorization provides valuable insight into HHS\u2019s goals for its open innovation initiative: while HHS is eager to source ideas from external partners, it wants to select ideas that fit with its existing 5-point strategy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Figure 3: Selecting the Right Innovation Approach. Source: Andrew King and Karim R. Lakhani, \u201cUsing Open Innovation to Identify the Best Ideas,\u201d MIT Sloan Management Review 55, No. 1 (Fall 2013): 41-48.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Put differently, HHS used the 2017 Code-a-Thon to exploit resources to move incrementally along the innovation landscape in the short term. It remains to be seen whether HHS\u2019s medium-term goals include more exploitation (i.e., more products like Telesphora and Take Back America), a shift to exploration (larger, more transformational jumps), or some combination of the two.<\/p>\n

Increasing the Role of Open Innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the short term, HHS\u2019s decision to leverage innovation tournaments to solve specific problems will continue to generate valuable new ideas to address the opioid crisis. Depending on the efficacy of the initial Hack-a-Thon ideas, HHS should continue to pursue such exploitative innovation tournaments where applicable. Better data (see figure 2) appears to be a natural area where HHS could expand its innovation efforts, potentially incorporating novel data sets such as cell phone geolocation data.<\/p>\n

In the medium term, however, HHS should reevaluate its approach. Brendan Saloner, a professor at John Hopkins\u2019 Bloomberg School of Public Health, appropriately notes that “we\u2019re not going to code our way out of this problem”13<\/sup>. Saloner\u2019s assertion recalls King and Lakhani\u2019s matrix: innovation tournaments will spur new ideas, but only ideas that align with a pre-determined approach to addressing the opioid crisis. To harness the true power of open innovation, HHS should endeavor to create a community where ideas are both contributed and selected by external parties. This approach will enable those closest to the crisis \u2013 first responders, nurses, physicians, and others \u2013 to act on those ideas that they know will drive the greatest change, creating the possibility of exploration on the innovation landscape instead of just exploitation. While HHS undoubtedly incorporates perspectives from these on-the-ground stakeholders today, creating an open innovation environment that encourages open collaboration between idea generators and idea selectors will maximize the value of open innovation to combat the opioid crisis.<\/p>\n

Questions for Further Discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Should HHS transition open innovation to address the opioid crisis from innovation tournaments to an open community with external idea generation and idea selection? Why or why not?<\/p>\n

How does the high-stakes nature of the opioid crisis change the role that open innovation plays in addressing this unique challenge?<\/p>\n

(774 words)<\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. National Institute on Drug Abuse. \u201cNational Overdose Deaths\u2014Number of Deaths Involving Opioid Drugs,\u201d https:\/\/www.drugabuse.gov\/related-topics\/trends-statistics\/overdose-death-rates<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/li>\n
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. \u201cProvisional Drug Overdose Death Counts,\u201d https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/nvss\/vsrr\/drug-overdose-data.htm<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/li>\n
  3. SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, HR 6, 115th Cong. (October 24, 2018), https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/115th-congress\/house-bill\/6<\/a>, accessed November 2028.<\/li>\n
  4. The White House. \u201cA Year of Historic Action to Combat the Opioid Crisis,\u201d https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/articles\/year-historic-action-combat-opioid-crisis\/<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/li>\n
  5. US Department of Health and Human Services. \u201c5-Point Strategy To Combat the Opioid Crisis,\u201d https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/opioids\/about-the-epidemic\/hhs-response\/index.html<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/li>\n
  6. Sarun Charumilind, MD et al., \u201cWhy we need bolder action to combat the opioid epidemic,\u201d McKinsey & Company, September 2018, https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/industries\/healthcare-systems-and-services\/our-insights\/why-we-need-bolder-action-to-combat-the-opioid-epidemic<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/li>\n
  7. Henry Chesbrough and Adrienne Kardon Crowther, \u201cBeyond high tech: early adopters of open innovation in other industries,\u201d R&D Management<\/em> 36, 3 (2006): 229-236.<\/li>\n
  8. The Obama White House. \u201cPrizes and Challenges,\u201d https:\/\/obamawhitehouse.archives.gov\/administration\/eop\/sicp\/initiatives\/prizes-challenges<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/li>\n
  9. US Department of Health and Human Services. \u201cHHS Opioid Code-a-Thon,\u201d https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/challenges\/code-a-thon\/index.html<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/li>\n
  10. https:\/\/telesphora.com\/<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/li>\n
  11. Visionist, Inc. \u201cTake Back America,\u201d http:\/\/takeback.labs.visionistinc.com\/<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/li>\n
  12. Andrew King and Karim R. Lakhani, \u201cUsing Open Innovation to Identify the Best Ideas,\u201d MIT Sloan Management Review<\/em> 55, No. 1 (Fall 2013): 41-48.<\/li>\n
  13. Issie Lapowsky, \u201cTech Alone Can\u2019t Solve the Opioid Crisis,\u201d Wired<\/em>, December 21, 2017, https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/opioid-crisis-hackathon-tech-health-care-funding\/<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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