Innovative Digital Platform POST™ Connects MedTech and Orthopaedic Departments for Enhanced Collaboration

POST™: A New Era in Orthopaedic Collaboration

The Academic Orthopaedic Consortium (AOC) has recently unveiled POST™, the first national digital platform aimed at connecting MedTech companies and academic orthopaedic departments. This launch marks a significant stride toward enhancing collaboration in the healthcare innovation sector.

With over 5,000 members and representation from 200 university-based departments, the AOC is the largest academic orthopaedic community in the U.S. This initiative has been in the works for three years, derived from deep collaboration between leading orthopaedic experts and industry executives. Its inception addresses two critical challenges that currently hamper the pace of innovation in healthcare: efficiently linking technology developers with academic medical centers and reducing the time required for technology evaluation and adoption.

A Focus on Reducing Barriers

According to a comprehensive assessment led by the AOC MedTech Advisory Council, significant obstacles in current evaluation processes were identified. More specifically, institutions reported that technology evaluations frequently take over 270 days, with merely 12% managing to keep evaluations under 90 days. Additionally, over 90% of the institutions cited administrative and purchasing barriers as the largest hurdles to adopting new technologies. This situation has led to pressing calls for a standardized approach to foster better collaboration between academia and the MedTech industry.

The POST™ platform seeks to mitigate these challenges through its intelligent matching technology, which allows organizations to develop detailed profiles. This function facilitates smooth connections among potential collaborators, matching expertise with needs efficiently. By creating a more streamlined process to identify suitable partners, POST™ aims to foster earlier access to cutting-edge technologies, advance opportunities for research and educational activities, and ultimately improve patient care through responsible innovation.

Enabling Thoughtful Innovation

Michael R. Gagnon, MBA, founder of the Academic Orthopaedic Consortium, emphasizes the transformative potential of POST™. He remarks, "For decades, companies have struggled to identify the right academic partners, while academic departments have lacked an efficient way to engage with industry. POST changes that by establishing a straightforward digital platform for collaboration."

POST™ also serves as the technological foundation for the newly formed AOC Technology Evaluation Network. This network consists of both academic and industry leaders working collaboratively to promote effective evaluation practices, thus lowering unnecessary delays in technology adoption while broadening avenues for scholarly activity.

Several prominent companies, including Arthrex, DePuy Synthes, Medacta, and Stryker, have already joined the platform, illustrating robust industry support aimed at enhancing collaboration. Joshua J. Jacobs, MD, co-chair of the AOC MedTech Advisory Council, points out that the platform brings a nationwide framework to facilitate collaboration, effectively sharing best practices and accelerating the adoption of innovative technologies.

A National Call for Participation

As the AOC encourages academic departments and industry partners to join POST™, they are optimistic about the future of healthcare innovation. There is a growing emphasis on teamwork within the orthopaedic community, and POST™ represents an opportunity to realize the shared objective of improving patient care through thoughtful and responsible innovation.

Learn more about this initiative and how to establish an organizational profile by visiting POSTMedTech.com. The AOC is poised to usher in a new era in the orthopaedic sector, connecting diverse stakeholders and enhancing the pace at which innovative technologies are evaluated and implemented.

About AOC

Founded in 2005, the Academic Orthopaedic Consortium is committed to strengthening academic orthopaedics and improving musculoskeletal patient care through education, strategic collaboration, and research. With the launch of POST™, the AOC sets a new standard for synergy between academic institutions and the MedTech industry, facilitating a future where innovation translates seamlessly into clinical practice.