Innovation: It's in Our DNA.

Colleen M. Kigin, PT, DPT, MS, MPA, FAPTA, the 52nd Mary McMillan Lecturer, is a consultant focused on innovation. She is a visiting clinical professor at the University of Colorado physical therapy program, University of Colorado School of Medicine, and an adjunct associate professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions (MGH IHP). From 1998-2014, she held the positions of chief of staff and program manager for the Center of Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, a 12-institution consortium based in Boston, Massachusetts, developing innovative solutions to health care problems. She subsequently has served as a consultant to such efforts as the University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, United Kingdom, to develop an innovation culture. In 1994, she joined the newly formed Partners HealthCare System in Boston, coordinating the system's cost reduction efforts through 1998. Kigin previously served as director of physical therapy services at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) (1977-1984) and as assistant professor at MGH IHP (1980-1994). While at MGH, she was responsible for the merger of 2 separate physical therapy departments, the establishment of the first nonphysician specialist position, and practice without referral for the physical therapy services. Kigin has held numerous positions within the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), serving on the Board of Directors from 1988-1997, including as vice president; co-chair of The Physical Therapy Summit in 2007; and co-chair of FiRST, the Frontiers in Rehabilitation, Science and Technology Council. She also served as prior chair of the APTA Committee on Clinical Residencies and served on the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Kigin earned a bachelor of science degree in physical therapy at the University of Colorado, a master of science degree at Boston University, a master's degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a doctor in physical therapy degree from the MGH IHP.

Can mHealth Technology Help Mitigate the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Goal: The aim of the study herein reported was to review mobile health (mHealth) technologies and explore their use to monitor and mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A Task Force was assembled by recruiting individuals with expertise in electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes (ePRO), wearable sensors, and digital contact tracing technologies. Its members collected and discussed available information and summarized it in a series of reports. Results: The Task Force identified technologies that could be deployed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and would likely be suitable for future pandemics. Criteria for their evaluation were agreed upon and applied to these systems. Conclusions: mHealth technologies are viable options to monitor COVID-19 patients and be used to predict symptom escalation for earlier intervention. These technologies could also be utilized to monitor individuals who are presumed non-infected and enable prediction of exposure to SARS-CoV-2, thus facilitating the prioritization of diagnostic testing.

What is digital medicine?

Changes in health care are a fundamental part of social and intellectual evolution. The modern practice of scientific medicine depends on the existence of the written and printed word to store medical information. Because computers can transform information as well as store it, new digital tools cannot only record clinical data, they can also generate medical knowledge. In doing so, they make it possible to develop "digital medicine" that is potentially more precise, more effective, more experimental, more widely distributed, and more egalitarian than current medical practice. Critical steps in the creation of digital medicine are careful analysis of the impact of new technologies and coordinated efforts to direct technological development towards creating a new paradigm of medical care.

The Physical Therapy and Society Summit (PASS) Meeting: observations and opportunities.

The construct of delivering high-quality and cost-effective health care is in flux, and the profession must strategically plan how to meet the needs of society. In 2006, the House of Delegates of the American Physical Therapy Association passed a motion to convene a summit on "how physical therapists can meet current, evolving, and future societal health care needs." The Physical Therapy and Society Summit (PASS) meeting on February 27-28, 2009, in Leesburg, Virginia, sent a clear message that for physical therapists to be effective and thrive in the health care environment of the future, a paradigm shift is required. During the PASS meeting, participants reframed our traditional focus on the physical therapist and the patient/client (consumer) to one in which physical therapists are an integral part of a collaborative, multidisciplinary health care team with the health care consumer as its focus. The PASS Steering Committee recognized that some of the opportunities that surfaced during the PASS meeting may be disruptive or may not be within the profession's present strategic or tactical plans. Thus, adopting a framework that helps to establish the need for change that is provocative and potentially disruptive to our present care delivery, yet prioritizes opportunities, is a critical and essential step. Each of us in the physical therapy profession must take on post-PASS roles and responsibilities to accomplish the systemic change that is so intimately intertwined with our destiny. This article offers a perspective of the dynamic dialogue and suggestions that emerged from the PASS event, providing further opportunities for discussion and action within our profession.