Friday, October 17, 2008

Will the Health Care System X PRIZE Work?

Five Reasons WellPoint’s $10M Healthcare Competition Won’t Work - BNET

The X Factor - A Shot in the Arm - This one gives 5 reasons why the competition WILL work.

You decide. The BNET article seemed to raise the bar a bit too high. I don't think they'll try to solve every problem in the health care industry, any more than they try to solve every problem in the space industry. They're probably going to look for a strategic "weak point" in the problematic status quo health care system where a demonstration will open the way for
useful operational follow-ons, and go after that specific point. That's how their other prizes seem to work, at least.

I do agree that there are "broader reaching and more systemic" (using wording from A Shot in the Arm) problems in the health care industry. However, the problems in the space industry shouldn't be underestimated. They certainly aren't all engineering problems. They're mostly industrial, financial, media, regulatory, and political problems. The X PRIZEs go after those non-engineering problems, too.

Anyway, I'd wait to see what kind of rules they come up with before giving them odds one way or the other, or estimating how important it will be if they succeed.