Today, April 7, 2022, is World Health Day and Medtronic LABS is launching SPICE, our digital health platform for community-based healthcare delivery. SPICE was collaboratively designed with patients, communities, clinicians, and government partners in East and West Africa where Medtronic LABS has worked since 2016.
The first major SPICE release called Pepper enables community health workers and healthcare providers to manage cohorts of chronic disease patients directly in the community based on the patients’ risk levels. It is also designed for interoperability, performance in no-connectivity areas, and for customizability and flexibility across countries and health system set-ups.
“The existing digital tools for community health workers are just that: tools, surveys, basic data collection forms. We designed SPICE to actually transform the way care is delivered not just report on it,” said Anne Stake, Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Medtronic LABS.
SPICE ushers in a new era for community-based digital health innovation. With underlying clinical algorithms and intelligence, community health workers and clinicians are able to target interventions for patients that need it most. “Ultimately SPICE was designed with one goal in mind: to measurably improve health outcomes,” said Stake. “We still have a long way to go. This is just the beginning.”
We interviewed the core SPICE product team to share what excites them about this new digital healthcare platform and how they believe SPICE reimagines healthcare for underserved populations.
KELLY SHELDEN, Head of Technology
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE ON THE SPICE TEAM?
As the Head of Technology, I work very closely across our design, product, and engineering teams on all things SPICE. From reviewing our platform architecture to going deep in user workflows, the collaborative nature of our team allows all of us to take on a variety of roles. The development of SPICE would not have been possible without all team members wearing multiple hats and working across our various functions to ensure we’re developing a robust platform.
WHAT ARE YOU PROUD OF AS A CONTRIBUTING MEMBER?
The SPICE platform has truly been designed both for and with the end users of the technology. We followed an iterative approach to designing the workflows and solicited feedback from end-users at each step of the process. From early-stage prototypes to end user acceptance testing, we have constantly improved the application as we received feedback from our users. I am proud of our team for our ability to constantly adapt our process and I believe this has improved our teams’ understanding of the end users.
WHAT ABOUT SPICE EXCITES YOU?
The SPICE platform presents a springboard for us to continue to innovate as an organization. The flexible workflows and customizable nature of the platform will allow us to scale the solution for a variety of programs and use cases. This will then enable us to focus on building features to enhance patient engagement, clinical decision support, and leverage AI/ML to further enhance our technical capabilities.
HOW WILL SPICE FOSTER SUSTAINABLE, EQUITABLE WELLBEING SOCIETIES?
To foster sustainable, equitable wellbeing societies, technology must be an enabler and not a detractor to the user. The improved design, simplified workflows, and performance enhancements that SPICE provides better equips our users to spend time on the important work that they do.
To connect with Kelly, please go to her LinkedIn handle.
VINAY HASIJA, Head of Design
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE ON THE SPICE TEAM?
My Role in SPICE is primarily focused on UX Research and Design. Our attempt is to create solutions which are addressing usability and user experience.
WHAT ARE YOU PROUD OF AS A CONTRIBUTING MEMBER?
What I take pride in as a contributing team member is that we encouraged and enabled the co-creation of SPICE Platform along with the end users (Health Care Providers and Workers), which has resulted in a platform which users can relate to and use it for better patient management.
WHAT ABOUT SPICE EXCITES YOU?
SPICE’s flexible architecture will enable its usage across various regions and countries. I am excited to see how it adapts to different health systems and provides longitudinal care.
HOW WILL SPICE FOSTER SUSTAINABLE, EQUITABLE WELLBEING SOCIETIES?
Across various health systems, the doctor to patient ratio is always stretched (especially in underserved communities) and the SPICE platform offers simplification of the operational processes, resulting in more time for the clinicians/health workers to help and treat more patients.
To connect with Vinay, please go to his LinkedIn handle.
SELVAGANESAN M, SPICE Product Owner
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE ON THE SPICE TEAM?
I lead engagement with design and the engineering team to define features, deliver them, and measure the impact. I also define new feature releases and support the production application by tracking user engagement, feedback and monitoring issues or bugs.
WHAT ARE YOU PROUD OF AS A CONTRIBUTING MEMBER?
Being a collaborative problem solver in a team of talented people with diverse skill sets and backgrounds to solve critical problems.
WHAT ABOUT SPICE EXCITES YOU?
SPICE is a global digital health platform that has features and workflow which are flexible, customizable, interoperable. It allows for creating, implementing, and expanding healthcare programs across different regions of the world with different customers.
HOW WILL SPICE FOSTER SUSTAINABLE, EQUITABLE WELLBEING SOCIETIES?
The clinical features in the platform are regionally customizable and interoperable which allows the platform to be used across different regions of the world, provides access to healthcare for ALL, and improves the lives of people.
It also has features that encourage communities to participate together to learn and be aware of these diseases, to take care of each other, to reduce risk, and prevent themselves from new diseases.
To connect with Selvaganesan, please go to his LinkedIn handle.
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Find out more information about SPICE, the world’s leading digital health platform for community based population health, visit our website.
