Are technological, social and economic forces chipping away at the hospital’s place in our healthcare system? Is the future of the community hospital uncertain? What might new models of care look like? If these questions have occurred to you, you might want to take part in a 24-hour crowd-sourced forecasting game produced by the Institute for the Future.

Set to run from 12pm EST (9am PST) Jan. 8 to12pm EST (9am PST) on January 9, 2013, the Future of the Hospital was set up to "inspire a conversation about a new 21st century role for community hospitals, starting from the ground up—drawing on the insights of experts as well as ordinary people all over the world," according to ITIF.

Among the issues participants will address are:

• In the next decade, can the community hospital compete with specialty-hospitals, or with highly personalized consumer technology?
• How will new technologies like telepresence help hospitals provide relevant care in a world where fewer services require stepping foot inside a clinical environment?
• Can we repurpose and reimagine the existing hospital infrastructure for the health and wellness needs of the 21st century?

Spend some time thinking about a few of these issues, then play the game on Jan. 8—9, 2013. You can see player responses at any point during the game on the game dashboard. Game guides will also highlight interesting ideas and winning chain reactions with awards and shout-outs in the game blog.

If you have questions about Future of the Hospital, e-mail Rachel Maguire at rmaguire@iftf.org.