Are We Using the Wrong Playbook for Pediatrics?

Rock Health and DiME just released their Pediatric Digital Health Playbook, outlining the future of innovation in pediatrics. On the surface, it looks like progress—more access, more digital tools, more opportunities to “transform” care for kids.

But let’s be honest: This isn’t a playbook for better pediatric healthcare. It’s a playbook for investment.

It’s a guide to playing the game, not fixing it. A roadmap for how to attract funding, scale services, and monetize gaps in care—rather than strengthening the foundations of pediatric medicine.

If we keep following this playbook, we’ll get more digital health startups, more billable services, and more money flowing into pediatrics. But will we get better care for kids? Stronger relationships between patients and providers? More continuity, integration, and long-term impact?

That’s the real question.

The Current Playbook: How to Win for Investment, Not for Patients

Right now, the winning strategy in pediatric digital health isn’t about fixing the system—it’s about working around it. It looks like this:

?? Step 1: Find a billable gap, not a fundamental need.

• Don’t strengthen primary care—monetize a workaround.
• Don’t solve fragmentation—create a new billable service.
• Don’t measure success in outcomes—measure it in ARR.

?? Step 2: Sell to payers, not pediatricians or parents.

• Parents and providers don’t pay enough.
• Insurers control the budgets, so promise cost savings, not continuity.
• Pediatricians are too hard to sell to—so build outside the medical home instead of strengthening it.

?? Step 3: Prioritize what’s easy to scale, not what actually improves care.

• Investors want quick growth, not long-term transformation.
• More touchpoints = more billable moments = more funding.
• If it disrupts continuity? That’s someone else’s problem.

?? Step 4: Build for acquisition, not sustainability.

• Optimize for exit.
• Prove short-term ROI, not long-term health impact.
• Scale first, integrate later (if ever).

This is the playbook that gets funded today. But is it the right one for pediatric healthcare?

Who Should the Playbook Really Be For?

If we’re serious about fixing pediatric care, we need to stop designing models around what’s easy to fund and start focusing on who we should actually be serving.

???? Pediatricians should be the leaders of innovation—not an afterthought.

• True pediatric care is built on relationships, trust, and continuity—not transactions.
• Digital health should support them, not compete with them.
• Yet, too often, pediatricians only adopt technology that makes their current work faster, easier, or more billable—rather than tech that actually builds stronger relationships with patients and families.

?? Patients and families should be at the center—not just an acquisition funnel.

• More access isn’t the same as better care.
• More tools don’t mean better outcomes.
• True innovation should help families navigate care, not just give them more fragmented options.

?? True innovators should be recognized—not just those who fit the VC model.

• Those building within the pediatric system, not just around it.
• Those who take the harder, longer path to improve continuity, not just chase quick revenue.
• Those aligning mission and margin—not just monetization.

So let’s ask ourselves: Why isn’t the current playbook designed for them?

Is It Time for a New Playbook?

If we’re using the wrong playbook, what should the right one look like?

? Continuity over transactions. If it doesn’t strengthen long-term relationships in care, is it really innovation?

? Integration over fragmentation. Digital health shouldn’t bypass pediatricians—it should empower them.

? Long-term commitment over short-term ROI. Pediatric health isn’t a fast-turnaround investment. It requires patience, persistence, and alignment with real care needs.

? Collaboration over competition. Pediatricians shouldn’t be fighting for relevance in their own field—they should be leading digital health strategy.

? Technology that helps pediatricians give families MORE, not just do things faster. Pediatricians need to stop adopting tools that only increase efficiency or monetization and start demanding solutions that increase connection, trust, and long-term patient engagement.

Because at the end of the day, innovation in pediatrics isn’t about what’s easiest to fund—it’s about what actually makes care better.

We’re All Playing the Wrong Game—And It’s Time to Change That

It’s easy to point at investors and startups, but let’s not pretend the rest of us are innocent.

???? Pediatricians – We make ourselves difficult to sell to because we only want what’s cheap, easy, or revenue-driving. But what about getting our patients more? What about demanding solutions that actually improve continuity?

?? Families – We say we want better care, but we settle for convenience over continuity. More access doesn’t equal better care—sometimes, it just means more noise.

?? Payers – We fund quick-fix solutions instead of reforming the system. We pour money into digital health while underfunding the core of pediatric care. Where is the investment in primary care itself?

We all need to rethink what we’re building, funding, and adopting. Because the current playbook isn’t just flawed—it’s actively working against the principles of pediatrics.

Final Thought: Who’s Ready to Play the Right Game?

We can keep following the current playbook, chasing fundable, billable, scalable solutions that may or may not improve pediatric care.

Or we can start writing a new one—one that prioritizes patients over payers, long-term impact over quick exits, and real pediatric healthcare over financial optimization.

So I’ll ask again: Are we using the wrong playbook? And who’s actually ready to change the game?

?? What do you think? Is it time for a new playbook? Drop your thoughts in the comments. Let’s start the real conversation.