Category: Innovation
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Darth Vecdor Update: Toward a Shareable Knowledge Base Library
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA Recently, I announced the free, open-source, public availability of Darth Vecdor (DV), a tool I wrote for creating graph databases (“knowledge bases” or “knowledge graphs“) using LLMs. For more info about DV, see either or both of: Or… visit the GitHub site to see more information and download…
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Introducing Darth Vecdor: A Free, Open-Source Platform to Create Knowledge Graphs Using LLMs (such as ChatGPT)
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA I Wanted a Comprehensive Medical Knowledge Graph For decades, I have hypothesized that a comprehensive medical knowledge database (aka, “knowledge base” or “knowledge graph”) would enable radical positive transformation in healthcare. I wanted a database containing relationships between concepts, like: With such a database, I imagined we could…
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The WXP: My “Secret Weapon” Metric in Process Performance Analysis
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA Introduction Throughout my professional life, I have performed analyses to assess performance related to some process or function. Whether it’s the performance of people processes, machine processes, or something else, I have found a simple metric (or set of similar metrics) that seems very often to tell me…
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Explicit and Implicit Work Estimate Padding: The Hidden Saboteur of Scrum
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA I have some opinions about time estimates when doing agile software development using the Scrum methodology. I share them here in case helpful, even though I suspect many will disagree. Explicit But Hidden Padding Over the years, I have in the past heard, read of, and seen that…
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Predicting Correctly Seems More Often Luck Than Skill. I’m Making Some Healthcare Predictions Anyway.
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA As of this writing (2025), there are about 8 billion people in the world. Let’s say that every person guesses the likelihood that “the stock market” (let’s say the S&P 500) will be up or down from one quarter to the next. And let’s say that this is…
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An Innovation (I think) Needed to Address an Aging Population
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA The Problem Have you ever seen the following in a movie or TV show? Someone has had a tragic accident or medical event and needs to undergo physical therapy to get better, but they feel hopeless and reluctant. Then a dedicated person or team of doctors, nurses, therapists,…
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The Patient Hierarchy of Needs
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA Introduction Back in 1943, a seminal work by Dr. Abraham Maslow was published describing the human hierarchy of needs. In this hierarchy, once lower level needs were adequately satisfied (i.e., basic physiologic needs like food and shelter), then higher level needs arise. In other words, people typically don’t…
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Getting to a “Yes” Requires Recognition of a “No”
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA Imagine you have an innovative idea, and you propose it to your boss. You think the boss said “yes” or “maybe,” but the response actually meant “no.” You might continue on your current path without realizing it has no chance of success. Recognizing “no” immediately can help you…
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Many say AI, including ChatGPT, isn’t good enough to be your doctor. We need a moonshot to change that.
Access to healthcare is a longstanding and worsening problem in the US for many. They say AI isn’t good enough to replace doctors, and if that’s right, then how will we address the supply/demand mismatch? We need a government-sponsored “moonshot” program to make great and empathetic AI doctors a reality.
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The ANY YES and ALL YES Innovation Games
Why do innovations succeed or fail? Why do the roots of so many innovations start in academic institutions, and why do big companies so often struggle with innovation? The math says it may depend on whether the innovator is playing an ALL YES or an ANY YES innovation game.
Zero Effectors 