From Promise To Practice: Why Technology Breakthroughs Struggle To Take Hold In Healthcare

Forbes

28-07-2025

Sonali Bloom is CEO of 20/20 Onsite.
There is no shortage of innovation in healthcare. From AI-driven diagnostics to virtual reality platforms to telemedicine, keeping pace with new technology is daunting. Yet despite billions in funding, much of this new tech doesn't make it past press releases. It doesn't reach the front lines—primarily, from my perspective, due to adoption failure.
It's not that healthcare has an innovation problem. It has an implementation problem.
In our work supporting decentralized clinical trials by collaborating with pharma sponsors, sites and CROs, we've had a front-row seat to this innovation paradox. Here are a few things we've learned along the way that actually make technology adoption work.
Barriers To New Technology Adoption In Healthcare
Healthcare isn't one system. We all know it's a fragmented web of stakeholders with conflicting incentives. Sponsors want efficiency and data integrity. Sites want streamlined workflows. Patients want comfort and clarity. This fragmentation can result in even the best tech getting caught in limbo.
Healthcare requires safety and precision, which come at the cost of speed and agility. Every new platform or device must meet strict compliance standards. This positive feature of the healthcare system tends to slow the pace of adoption, especially for newer technologies without a track record of success.
Clinics and research sites are built around repeatable routines. Introducing new tech can mean changing how things are done, which can halt everything. We all know time is money, and downtime (or the thought of downtime) drops adoption rates, especially if extra steps are needed in the usual routine.
After years of transformation promises, many clinicians and trial staff are skeptical of 'the next big thing.' They're exhausted, overextended and hesitant to invest time in technology that doesn't clearly indicate how it will make their life or routine easier, more efficient or more accurate.
The Most Common Pitfalls
Just because you have excellent tech doesn't mean you can drop a new platform into a clinic and expect seamless adoption. Even the best-designed tools can fail without hands-on training, clear protocols and responsive support. This cannot be overstated.
If a new technology doesn't align tightly with a study's protocol or regulatory goals, it creates confusion. Trial sites will default to what's familiar and known to work, not what's new.
Change is hard. It requires taking time to pause, onboard and adopt change. Adoption is ultimately a behavior-change challenge, not just a deployment. Your tech won't be used if it doesn't make life easier for the people using it.
The Adoption Playbook
After working on dozens of clinical trials in our corner of the healthcare sector, we've identified a few practices that have helped improve adoption success.
The question isn't, 'What can this technology do?' Rather, ask, 'How will someone use this at 9:30 a.m. on a busy clinic day?' Thinking through the user experience during daily tasks will help build real-world utility.
The best technology feels invisible. It slides into existing workflows, not around them. I've found that adoption skyrockets when the new process requires minimal workflow disruption for implementation.
With tech adoption in our corner of the healthcare world, trial sites are the engine of clinical research. That means early involvement, feedback and ongoing support. You can't outsource adoption to the people at the end of the chain.
It's not enough to prove something works once, though that is a start. The goal should be repeatability. That requires documentation, training modules, feedback loops and scalable support.
Case In Point: Adoption In A Neurology Trial
In recent neurological trials, we helped operationalize a novel assessment technology with strong clinical potential that had a few real-world implementation challenges. Our job wasn't just to deliver the tool, but to provide enablement. This included:
• Standardized training materials across all trial sites.
• On-site and virtual onboarding for clinicians.
• A custom integration plan that aligned with visit flow.
• Ongoing troubleshooting and feedback collection.
We aimed to treat operationalization as a core part of adoption, not an afterthought. This helped ensure the technology wasn't just evaluated but also implemented and utilized.
Pairing Innovation With Adoption
In the race to revolutionize healthcare, the real winners won't be the companies with the flashiest tech. The real winners will be those who develop strategies to make their technology usable in the real world, with real people. In healthcare, innovation doesn't win. Innovation plus implementation does.
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