How The Soul Of Open Source Is Saving Time, Money — And Lives — In Health Care

Rich Roth is VP of Strategic Innovation at Dignity Health.

[Editor's note: VentureBeat selected Dignity Health to speak at our HealthBeat event last month because of their unique model; we asked them to follow up on their talk with this look at how an 'open source' model can speed up innovation in health care.]

The advancements in medicine over the last 50 years are remarkable. Diseases once thought of as terminal are now curable. Chronic conditions today can be treated far more effectively than just a decade ago, making a huge impact on a patient’s quality of life.

Our nation’s health care system, however, has not kept pace with modern medicine. The system is fragmented, expensive, and often confusing. But I believe a renaissance is on the horizon. And as with any true renaissance, it’s all about our willingness to share information and test new theories.