Pragmatic Advice For Would-Be Health Entrepreneurs From The Medicine X Conference

Pragmatic Advice For Would-Be Health Entrepreneurs From The Medicine X Conference

By David Shaywitz

At this morning’s Health Innovation Summit – part of the Stanford Medicine X conference now underway – I had the opportunity to listen to a number of compelling presentations, and to moderate an author panel with UCSF Professor of Medicine Bob Wachter (book: The Digital Doctor) and Athena Health co-founder and CEO Jonathan Bush (Where Does It Hurt?)

Based on an informal “raise your hand” survey I did when I started my session, it seemed like the audience was about 40% tech people who had moved into healthcare, and 60% healthcare people who had embraced technology. The majority of attendees reported trying to obtain their health records at some point, and many, it seemed had been successful (suggesting the audience was either particularly well-connected or unusually persistent). A large number – perhaps half – had obtained consumer genetic information, via either 23andMe or Ancestry.com – suggesting, again, an unusually high level of interest and engagement.

(Disclosure/reminder: I work at a cloud genomics company in Mountain View, CA.)

Four points from this morning seemed especially relevant to aspiring healthcare entrepreneurs.

EMRs: Extract My Revenue

One highlight of the morning was a compelling interview of entrepreneur Christine Lemke (Chief Product Officer ofEvidation Health) by Rock Health’s Managing DirectorMalay Gandhi. One point made by Lemke, and echoed by some of the other speakers and attendees, is that the key factor driving EMR selection for major hospitals (Epicwas often called out, but perhaps only because it are said by many to do this the best) is the capability to enhance “revenue-cycle management.” Translation: – it’s all about the Benjamins. Perhaps more than anything else, hospitals want to maximize their revenue, and ensure they capture, and extract the most (permissible) value for the services they provide.

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