Preventing something from happening is without any doubt one of the biggest opportunities in healthcare – and perhaps especially digital healthcare. Trying to keep people from developing a medical condition that requires cost medical care is a really good idea for everybody concerned. And given the nature of prevention – and thus lack of physical intervention on the body – it is an area that is really suited for everything digital.
But there is an opportunity that might be even bigger; helping look after those who have developed a condition to enable them to have an improved quality of life. I think there are at least two major arguments for why this is so:
One of the problems with being diagnosed with a condition that may last for life is what happens after the diagnosis has been given. It’s all very good that in Denmark there is a 30 day or so guarantee to get a diagnosis, but to many who are then diagnosed, getting the message might actually be the last time they have a truly meaningful conversation with someone who specializes in their condition.
Yes, it can be that hard to get the attention and follow-up, you would like to have, post-diagnosis. There may be a lot of reasons for why this is so, but I think two of them are a lack of specialists in general combined with a lot of conditions being considered relatively banal by any other than those who are actually suffering from them.
In those terms this is what I would call a silent opportunity.
Here digital tools for follow-up and disease management can be a real benefit, as they can supply the kind of ongoing help and advice that is otherwise inaccessible. Done right digital tools have an opportunity to take the place of a specialist and provide the person with the condition with all the tools needed to ensure a better quality of life.
In this also lies the second major argument for why I believe this is a huge opportunity: The value the tools can potentially bring to the patient.
If a digital tool provides significant value to a person with a condition – perhaps for life – I can’t think of any reason why it wouldn’t be a major business opportunity to strike a working relationship between provider and patient perhaps even for life. If the tool becomes an important port of ensuring the users quality of life, it is worth paying something for. Likely not a whole lot per month, but over time it all adds up. And, best case, with extremely little churn.
For startups looking to cater to this market it is an opportunity to build a really interesting business for the long run with a solid purpose to boot. Of course the requirement beyond being able to build something that truly adds value is that entrepreneurs are in it for the long run, as exit opportunities may be few and far between. But for the right people with the right incentives and motivation to make a difference, the opportunities are definitely there.
(Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash)