Citizen Health Strategies

The #growth ambition of #startups (and not just the ones in #health, #healthcare, and #digitalhealth #innovation & #technology areas on which I focus most), can often come at the cost of #customercentricity if not carefully managed and this article explains why. While rapid growth is the dream of every #entrepreneur or even #intrapreneur, an overzealous focus on growth metrics like monthly active users, revenue run rate, or valuation can easily distract a startup from its core mission of solving #customer problems. When growth becomes the sole north star, startups risk losing touch with their customers' real needs and pain points. This hurts startups because they rely more heavily on #customerfeedback to refine their #productmarketfit. This close customer connection helps startups iterate quickly to build a solution customers truly want and value. However, as startups scale, it becomes exponentially more difficult to maintain such intimate customer relationships. #Founders are pulled away from customer interactions to focus on #business operations, fundraising, hiring, and other scaling activities. Data and metrics start to replace first-hand customer experiences as the primary driver of decision-making. Conversely, growth teams are incentivized to optimize for activation, retention, and other vanity metrics without fully understanding their impact on customer experience. A sobering lesson, but as usual thoughts appreciated. #Entrepreneurship #leanstartup https://lnkd.in/gidp2f9H

The new requirement from federal regulators to require electronic health record (#EHR) companies to disclose information about #artificialintelligence #digitalhealth #healthtech and #virtualcare tools in their software will help #hospitals and other healthcare providers be better prepared to handle potential problems and challenges that may arise from #AI. With more transparency about the AI systems in their EHR programs, providers will now have increased visibility into how the algorithms were developed and trained, their capabilities and limitations, and any risks of unfair or inaccurate decisions. This can help providers gain a stronger understanding of the appropriate uses of AI within their clinical workflows as well as how to monitor for and address any issues like data or algorithmic biases that could negatively impact #patientcare. Overall, the increased transparency mandated by regulators should enable providers to utilize AI in their EHR systems and other clinical technologies more safely, effectively, and for the benefit of their patients. Once again, this presents an opportunity for #entrepreneurs & #intrapreneurs to render information & assumptions available and build safeguards into their #medtech. Thoughts appreciated. #Innovation #entrepreneurship #healthtech #digitalhealth #virtualcare #ehealth #medtech #healthequity #disparities #discrimination #populationhealth #vulnerablepopulations #publichealth https://lnkd.in/drkSQhGd

The US spends an enormous amount of money on #health and #healthcare each year - nearly $5 trillion in 2024 according to government data and mostly (around 90%)?underwritten by #insurance (government, commercial, employer and individual ). But where exactly does all this money go? My article at the link breaks down the major categories of US healthcare spending and explains why having insurance, or a well-run and solvent risk-bearing entity, is so important to whether this huge sum is spent wisely. In my article at the link, I describe each of the major segments of spending and why we need to focus on each to better appreciate how to extract more value form these dollars and the insurance premiums we pay. For example, as the chart below shows, the single largest portion of healthcare spending in the US goes to hospital care. In 2023, hospital expenditures accounted for around 32% of total national health spending, or over $1.3 trillion. Most of this spend is on in-patient treatment of people with #chronicconditions of course so our efforts to increase the value for our overall investment would clearly mean big improvements here. Change starts with appreciating the scale of the challenge so I would love to know what people think about these huge spending buckets and how we might approach the future task either directly or through better plan design and deployment? #Entrepreneurship #innovation #healthtech #digitalhealth #virtualcare #ehealth #medtech #healthequity #disparities #discrimination #populationhealth #vulnerablepopulations https://lnkd.in/gA2g_Cex

As this excellent and well worth reading article suggests, there are always new frontiers in #healthcare: #diseases whose treatment and cures still elude us; biological and #medical mysteries that we’re yet to crack; #publichealth issues that could be better and more equitably solved; processes that could be simpler and more efficient; and #patients, #clinicians and consumers who could be better informed, empowered, and served in terms of their own #health and #wellbeing. The article describes 20 notable advances last year alone across the sector, which should inspire all #entrepreneurs and #intrapreneurs to engage in more #innovation. However, I am interested in what other advances people think we made in 2024, not on this list! ?#Entrepreneurship #biology #technology #healthtech #digitalhealth #virtualcare #telehealth #ehealth #medtech #ai #wellness #preventivemedicine #healthyaging https://lnkd.in/geCgyTuW?

Managing #clinician #supply and #demand well, is perhaps the most critical foundation step we must manage carefully in #healthcare if we are to render the best #care possible to #citizens/ #patients. While this is true of #doctors and #nurses and other care staff, I wanted to use this excellent report from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) to talk about #physicaltherapy & #therapists (and by association #occupationaltherapists too where a similar shortfall is projected). The report?describes?a shortage of over 12,000 FTE physical therapists today in the US even though demand for them is projected to grow by almost 15% (and despite the fact that there is only an 8% growth in the overall population). At the same time, the PT supply is projected to increase by 17%, leaving a net shortfall of 5% every year (ranging from 3% to 8%) in the next decade (largely due to increasing projected demand from an #aging or #olderadults population). The point here is that every #hospital and other provider system (and #payer) needs to invest more time in planning for these changes (and for all individual clinicians but perhaps more importantly strategizing around where #innovation and #technology may be able to play a part (with #digitalhealth #medicaldevices #rpm and #virtaulcare in particular). As usual, #entrepreneurs and #intrapreneurs can have a huge part to play in helping with this future planning and provided analysis tools –using #dataanalytics and #ai etc, and developing the particular missing #healthtechnology. Thoughts?appreciated. #Entrepreneurship #msk #healthtech #telehealth #ehealth #medtech #health #wellness #pt #ot #preventivemedicine #populationhealth #hospitalathome https://lnkd.in/gFFU8XQe

"A City on Mars" by Zach and Kelly Weinersmith is a great?blend of science and humor that tackles the huge challenge of building a self-sustaining city on #Mars. The book delves into the practicalities of establishing a human presence on Mars, exploring topics like transportation, habitat construction, food production, resource management, social organization, and perhaps most importantly maintaining #health and?rendering #healthcare when needed. The authors present various solutions, weighing their feasibility and potential pitfalls. The book offers a glimpse into the technological advancements required to make a Martian city a reality. In establishing a new city on Mars, we would have the unique opportunity to design all aspects of the built environment, social systems, and healthcare delivery model from the ground up with a focus on optimizing #publichealth outcomes. This could provide valuable lessons for improving healthcare delivery on Earth. What an interesting perspective for #entrepreneurs or #intrapreneurs wanting to get an “outside-the box” or #lateralthinking perspective! ?Thoughts appreciated. #Entrepreneurship #innovation #space #criticalthinking #healthtech #digitalhealth #virtualcare #ehealth #medtech #healthequity #populationhealth #vulnerablepopulations https://lnkd.in/guEvh3FS

I attended MWC in Barcelona this week, with my ECHAlliance - The Global Health Connector friends BRIAN O'CONNOR, Bleddyn Rees, Heather Smith Andy Bleaden, Karolina Mackiewicz, María Luquet, Alejandra Rodríguez and Iman Amar Aomar as well as good colleagues George Margelis, Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta, PhD, Jean Philbert Nsengimana (FAPH, MPA, MBA, PMP, MSc) Declan Kirrane, Gisela Garcia-Alvarez, PhD, Tobias Silberzahn, Rich Scarfo Kari Kohtam?ki, Ain Aaviksoo Julien Venne, JOAN CORNET PRAT Merilin Varsamaa and many others. We have had several meetings on real and practical examples of how we can help and support greater #health and #care improvement, and #connection or #collaboration between many regions & countries across the world through #innovation and deploying #technology (including tools such #digitalhealth #apps #telehealth #wearables and more) to encourage greater #wellness and #thriving (and do so with maximum #access and #equity & to include #vulnerablepopulations). If you are an #entrepreneur in a startup or a leader or #intrapreneur in a mature health or health stakeholder wanting to change things for the better in #healthcare –come and join ECH in our efforts to carefully introduce #healthtechnology as widely as we can. #entrepreneurship #telehealth #healthcare #healthtech #aging #ehealth #mhealth #medtech #data #ai #populationhealth #sdoh #startups #virtualcare #longevity #consumerhealth https://lnkd.in/gsbBNPYn

This is a fabulous report from McKinsey & Company. As the chart below shows, today in more than half of the world’s countries, home to 2/3rds of humanity, the fertility rate has dropped below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman.?Falling #fertility rates shift the #demographic balance toward youth scarcity & more #olderadults, who are increasingly dependent on a shrinking working-age population.?Longer life spans accelerate the shift. This phenomenon has begun to play out across advanced economies, where in three-fifths of countries annual deaths already exceed births. Emerging economies have more runway, but they need to get richer before the demographic transformation sets in. This is a huge wake-up call in many areas & Governments everywhere will need to address the challenges aggressively and quickly. However, perhaps the biggest challenge is in #health & #healthcare. For this we will need many more #entrepreneurs & #intrapreneurs to help us to cope with perhaps much new #technology and #innovation to assist. Thoughts appreciated. #Aging #Entrepreneurship #populationhealth #healthtech #digitalhealth #virtualcare #ehealth #jtbd #healthequity #digitalhealth #vulnerablepopulations #longevity #healthspan https://lnkd.in/gfP8rwFc

#Pharma companies have long recognized the potential for digital technologies (including #digitalhealth #apps, #wearable #rpm, and #telehealth solutions) to improve #drugs discovery and development processes, enhance #clinicaltrials, and enable more personalized #patientcare. Over the past decade, major pharmaceutical players have significantly ramped up their digital #health and #healthcare investments and partnerships as they seek to leverage emerging technologies to streamline R&D, gain insights from real-world data, and develop new business models centered around patient needs. While we might argue that this has taken longer than many might have liked, but the momentum is now building very quickly (hence the transformation potential).?One of the biggest opportunities for pharma lies in using #AI and #machinelearning to accelerate and optimize #drug development, and in my article at the link, I dig into what is happening more specifically. As usual, thoughts appreciated. #Entrepreneurship #innovation #technology #lifesciences #healthtech #virtualcare #ehealth #medtech #healthequity #populationhealth #futureofmedicine https://lnkd.in/gzBb56Xs

I always enjoy talking with Keren Etkin and earlier this month I did so on her #AgeTech Podcast: Although my experience is across most sectors in #health and #healthcare (& #digitalhealth in particular) #agingwell & #healthyaging is still a true passion of mine and we had a very enjoyable conversation around these topics. In the conversation, we covered why so many #aging-focused #startups often stumble or fail to scale, how AI is #reshaping healthcare and the aging sector, and what it really takes for #entrepreneurs & #intrapreneurs to build solutions that work. As usual, thoughts on what we did and didn't cover appreciated. #ehealth #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #seniors #jbtd #populationhealth #healthyaging #healthtech #medtech #eldercare #healthequity #populationhealth #ai #vulnerablepopulations #longevity #healthspan https://lnkd.in/gJ-3cibe