Article Contributed by Anand Srinivasan
The rising cost of health care is a major point of debate in the United States as well as a number of other countries in the developing world like India and China. According to a white paper on this subject by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the primary reason for the broken health care system is inefficient spending. Other main concerns include inadequate coordinate of care and poorly designed production processes.
While the health care and its rising costs continue to be a challenge, this is a goldmine of opportunity for entrepreneurs looking to fix problems. Take Brighter.com for example. The site offers a “free” alternative to dental insurance by letting its website visitors save money by comparing quotes offered by various dentists in your locality and thus letting you save some serious money on dental care even if you don’t have an insurance. This is an example of solving a pain point that people face in the health care industry.
The time has never been more appropriate for entrepreneurs to explore the health care space. Today, we have startup incubators like Rock Health that focus entirely on healthcare startups. Universities too have sensed the need of the hour and have been offering MBA degrees in healthcare for people looking to explore the health business. The challenge is now to find the right problem to attack and offer a solution that is better than what is available in the market.
One of the major barriers to entrepreneurial success has often been the greed for instant success and money. According to Steve Picheny, the pioneering entrepreneur whose medical devices company was the first to bring the finger pulse oximeter to the market, the focus should be more altruistic than merely measuring success through the money made. In a recent talk given to aspiring health care entrepreneurs, Picheny said, “My advice to you guys is to find a goal greater than making money. Have the goal of making this world a better place and you’ll be happy every day you go to work.”
There are however several challenges that healthcare entrepreneurs need to tackle. The first and foremost challenge is the regulatory red-tape. According to Jonathan Bush, the CEO of AthenaHealth, new entrants to this industry are “frisked with a cheese grater”. He further notes that regardless of how revolutionary your product is, the doctor (who is the real decider in most instances) may not be in a position to try your service if the hospital management has its way. It is a business decision that the hospitals take to ensure their procedures include what’s most profitable to them; not what is most valuable to the patient.
Despite these challenges, the system itself is getting better with the advent of digital startups targeting the healthcare space. Startups like Brighter help in getting the doctors to compete against one another in offering the most cost-optimal service to patients. Such services highlight the beauty of a capitalist society that enables businesses to compete with one another to offer customers the best service at the lowest cost.
Author Bio: Anand is a market outreach consultant for a number of businesses in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom.