How to create a product that will sell in healthcare
It’s always about the customer(s)
In most sectors, the person receiving the service is also the one paying for it. With this in mind, most businesses are focused on two main things…time and money.
Healthcare is different. It is the only industry that I can think of where there are three opposing forces.
You have the service provider the Doctor, NP, PA, Pharmacist, etc.
You have the service receiver the patient
You have the payer the insurance company
There is a very small sliver where they all intersect. Most of the time only 2 out of the 3 ever are on the same page. and then you have those fun times when no one agrees.
Let’s talk about the holy trinity of healthcare products. Time and money like before but the third component that you need to look at is patient outcomes.
Sample Solution
Artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage right now. Everyone and their mother is creating an AI solution with an OpenAI backend. Let’s put the data integrity piece aside for now. You can create a program that can sift through the clinic’s patients and identify high-risk patients based on guideline recommendations.
Now let’s look if this meets our goals for a good healthcare product.
Time
This is where AI really shines in my opinion. This saves the practice time because they are not sifting through labs and other data. If you can add automated workflows to this that reach out to the patient then…
Even if you don’t have an automated way to reach out to patients it still saves a tremendous amount of time. They don’t have to leave sticky notes or remember something during the day. It frees them up to take care of their patients.
Money
This is always the controversial one because people think that you should not make money in healthcare. I was one of those people. But, I was reminded that it is hard to take care of people if you are closed. So yes we need to make money but we also don’t need to price gouge our patients.
Using this software you can now identify patients that haven't seen you in over a year or patients that need a follow-up scan or patients that might have been lost to follow-up. These are all things that will increase revenue for the practice and also help the patients.
Patient Outcomes
This brings us to the most important one out of them all. It is the reason why we do what we do. Let us go back to our example of AI-generated reports. The parameters that are set up are based on guideline recommendations. Meaning that they are based on evidence and should improve patient outcomes. Sometimes it is hard for everyone to be up-to-date with current literature but this would take much of the guesswork out.
As you can see this solution ticks all the boxes! Now you watch the money roll in!
Not quite yet. You are going to need some baseline data and this is where the dreaded P word comes in…PILOT!
I am sure some of you reading just threw up a little bit.
Evidence is king
There is no way around it. You can kick and scream all you want, but that will not change the fact that you need data to prove your solution is worth it. The question is how you get this data.
Big hospitals
There are a couple of routes you can go. You can approach big hospitals. But they usually have a lot of red tape and you will need a long runway as you wait for them to just make a decision let alone the time it will take to run your pilot.
Small hospitals and Clinics
You could reach out to smaller hospitals and clinics. They can move a little faster but don’t usually have the deep pockets that bigger systems do.
Private practice
This is probably the fastest route. You really only need the practice owner's or more likely the practice manager's blessing to run your pilot. This might be the best option for most startups. Because you can work 1:1 with them and iterate quickly.
Schools
I hadn't really considered this before I had a recent conversation with Preston Alexander. I think that if your product fits then the academic setting is a great way to get some data. This comes with the added bonus of making future clinicians become accustomed to your product. If it is good enough they will ask their employers about it. Guess who they are. Everyone we listed above!
Baseline Data
Before you start your pilot make sure that you have baseline data to compare your product to. Because if you don’t have something to compare your findings to then there was no point in this whole exercise.
Go build!
Here is a helpful table that should assist you in creating your healthtech startup. The general rule I would have at least 2 out of the 3 categories as a yes. One of those should be bettering patient outcomes preferably.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with! Feel free to reach out if you need anything!
Thank you so much for your support! Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or leave a comment.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn and I am trying to be more active on Twitter. Would really appreciate a follow there!
If you enjoyed what you read join 650+ people learning about all things healthtech every week!
I hope you have a great day!
Good