When economists, data scientists and medical professionals team up, the result is often remarkable innovation. These six examples from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Future of Health and Wellness Conference could change the way patients interact with hospitals, physicians and each other.
When workplace computers moved beyond command-line interfaces to the mouse-and-windows-based graphical user interface, that was a major advance in usability. And the command line itself was a big improvement over the punch cards and tape that came before.
As India's Sankara Nethralaya hospital took on more applications to meet patient needs, its network went on a blink, leaving the hospital blind for hours. When the problem moved from being an irritant to life-threatening, it knew only a network management system could save it.