The 10 Companies Booming in Healthcare Sector

Industry Insight
WHAT
DIGITAL STARTUPS
NEED TO SUCCEED IN THE
HEALTHCARE SPACE
e hear a lot of buzz in the industry and in the
Wmarketplace about the latest in digital
healthcare. From artificial intelligence, machine
learning, remote patient monitoring and wearable
technology to home monitoring and data, data, data –
digital healthcare has morphed into one of the most
transformative healthcare trends.
While this is one of the most exciting times to be in the
digital healthcare market, startups focused on this space
need to make sure their product and service have three-fold
impact: Improved patient outcomes, reduced cost of
delivery, and quality of care. Cost, quality and patient
experience often go unnoticed or ignored in favor of
technical functionality. The latest and greatest digital
healthcare technology will fail if the patients don’t
understand how to use it, providers can’t implement it into
their workflow, and payors won’t reimburse for its use.
By starting with a patient-centered focus, digital startups
will find they may need to slow down and get a better
understanding of the healthcare industry, which operates
differently than the tech world. There are more stakeholders
in healthcare that need consideration: doctors, patients,
insurers, regulators; each of these stakeholders holds a
unique perspective on the technology being adopted.
Healthcare is complex because patients are complex. As
digital startups focus on one area, such as a particular
disease, they may stumble onto the multiple factors that
contribute to that disease, what insurers do and don’t cover
related to that disease and its symptoms, and more variables
that directly or indirectly affect their product or service.
The development of a product or service requires research
into clinical practice, medical study, patient and doctor
interviews, and several focus groups. Digital healthcare
startups need to have patience – something that is
unattractive to some investors, causing digital healthcare
startups to rush into product development too quickly.
Instead, involving key stakeholders early in the
development process and fully understanding the concerns
and perspective will allow these startups to impact the
healthcare space where it matters most – patient care.
The Medical Futurist published a fantastic article earlier
this year that highlights why healthcare startups fail.
Forgetting about the patient, not including the provider,
difficulty creating clinical value and overclaiming what the
technology can do area just a few of areas discussed in this
article.
Another area often overlooked by digital healthcare startups
is the need to integrate. Healthcare data is massive, and
there is no “central repository” to draw from. By
understanding and embracing the need for shared services,
integration with other startups or providers in the healthcare
industry can foster innovation and better meet patient need
or demand. Instead startups may focus on siloed solutions
that make it difficult for providers to implement into their
practice, thus not offering value to the patient. By
understanding how patient data is viewed from a provider
and payor perspective, digital healthcare startups will find
out how their product or service will be most useful.
This is such an exciting time to be in the healthcare space.
The satisfaction of making a positive impact in
communities by improving patient care is why many
startups dive into the healthcare space. By taking a few of
these points into consideration, digital healthcare startups
will find their endeavors bearing fruit.
| June 2019 | 23