Innovative Acquired Deforming Hypertonia’s Treatment in the Geriatric Institution(s) Using Radical Innovation Design Methodology

Abstract: Background/Objectives:. According to a recent study, about 22% of residents in re-tirement homes suffer from troublesome acquired deforming hypertonia (ADH). Very few of them benefit from the necessary care due to the difficulties inherent to travel and hospitalisation. To reduce the medical impact of surgical and hospitalisation duration, existing solutions like botuli-num toxin injections and needle tenotomy are not requiring a full surgery room or a night hospi-talization. Actual situations are deficient in detecting and treating patients with ADH problems. Hence, the idea of developing a mobile unit has been seen as a possibility to address the issue of accessibility for such a procedure near retirement homes and reduce hospitalisation time. Methods: To explore the lack of effective solutions in the care of patients suffering from ADH in France, and assess the potential advantages of this new concept, we used Radical Innovation De-sign (RID) methodology, well adapted to supporting usage-based innovation projects. Results: The study has allowed us to identify a refined understanding of the existing pain points of different ADH stakeholders (ADH patients, medical staff, retirement home staff) and investigate how ex-isting solutions address these pain points. We found value buckets which were starting points to imagine innovative solutions. The study allowed identifying six novel solution scenarios to reduce ADH patients’ suffering and assess them against their ability to alleviate the RID whole “quantities of pain” of ADH issue. Conclusions: One of the significant results partly based on this study is the decree allowing the use of the botulinum toxin in home healthcare in France. One of the novel solution scenarios had been allowed for an experimental part in 8 mobiles unit in France, for 3 years, since the 22 nd December 2022.