“You are either being disrupted or a disruptor — sometimes you are both,” says Neil Patel, president of Healthbox and EVP at HIMSS.

That’s why it’s important to always be looking ahead and thinking about trends, he says, giving Blockbuster as the example of a service that missed out on innovation to competitors like Netflix and Redbox.

“You don’t need to respond to every single threat that comes your way. But you need to start looking at trends,” Patel said. “What kinds of opportunities are these startups or new entrances seeking within your current system? And then think about that on a macro level — what can you do about the change?”

Healthcare is seeing a lack of consumer choice, high systemic waste, poor outcomes and a high cost of care, he said. That, coupled with the fact healthcare is becoming “cool” again and the general trend towards infrastructure digitization, means that this is a ripe time to innovate.

Read more by Laura Lovett for Mobi Health News