Reshma Khilnani is the Co-founder and CEO of Medplum, an open-source healthcare developer platform that helps build, test, and deliver healthcare products and services. With a background in big tech and a passion for solving healthcare’s most complex challenges, Reshma is at the forefront of driving innovation in the industry. Her work with Medplum spans empowering developers, advancing interoperability, and supporting the next generation of healthcare delivery models. In our conversation, Reshma shares her insights on:

• The Origin and Vision of Medplum: Reshma shares how her experiences in building healthcare applications inspired a platform to reduce redundancy, incorporate lessons learned, and enable scalable developer solutions.
• Challenges with Traditional EMRs: She highlights the limitations of legacy EMRs, such as feature bloat, poor modularity, and rigid designs, and how Medplum reimagines these systems with modern workflows.
• The Power of Headless and Open-Source Architecture: Reshma explains how headless systems drive modularity and adaptability while open-source fosters transparency, collaboration, and cost efficiency.
• Engineering-Led Product Development: Medplum thrives without formal product managers, relying on customer feedback, developer collaboration, and iterative design to solve real-world problems.
• Go-to-Market Strategies for Open-Source Platforms: Reshma describes how Medplum targets developers, drives grassroots adoption, and converts users to enterprise clients with compliance tools and premium features.
• The Role of Messaging and Tasking: Reshma underscores how messaging and tasking enable real-time collaboration, proactive task management, and integration into healthcare workflows.
• Lessons from Building Zero-to-One: She reflects on challenges like navigating healthcare regulations, improving interoperability with FHIR, and addressing the health tech talent gap.
• Opportunities for Health Tech Innovation: Reshma identifies key opportunities like reducing administrative burdens, advancing interoperability, empowering developers, and enabling virtual and hybrid care models.

In this episode of Concept to Care, Reshma provides a compelling look into how Medplum is shaping the future of healthcare technology. Her insights into product development, architectural design, and health tech innovation offer valuable lessons for developers, healthcare leaders, and entrepreneurs looking to make an impact in the industry.

—

Where to find Reshma Khilnani

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshmakhilnani/
• email: reshma@medplum.com
• Medplum: https://www.medplum.com/

—

Where to find Angela and Omar:

• Angela Suthrave
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/
  • X: https://twitter.com/ASuthrave
  • email: angela@concepttocare.com
• Omar Mousa
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/
  • X: https://twitter.com/OmarMHealth
  • email: omar@concepttocare.com

—

Referenced:

• Medplum: https://www.medplum.com/
• Medplum Documentation: https://www.medplum.com/docs
• Medplum on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@medplum
• Medplum Case Studies: https://www.medplum.com/case-studies
• Medplum Github: https://github.com/medplum/medplum
• Medplum Discord Community: https://discord.com/invite/medplum
• How to contribute to Medplum: https://www.medplum.com/docs/contributing
• What is Open Source: https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source
• What is Headless Architecture: https://alokai.com/blog/headless-architecture
• Nikhil Krishnan giving Palantir credit: https://x.com/nikillinit/status/1859061406273765387
• Other Opensource Companies that Medplum is taking cues from:
  • Databricks: https://www.databricks.com/
  • Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/
  • PostHog: https://posthog.com/
  • Supabase: https://supabase.com/
• Some accredited certifications and organization bodies:
  • What is HIPAA: https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/php/resources/health-insurance-portability-and-accountability-act-of-1996-hipaa.html
  • What is SOCII: https://www.vanta.com/collection/soc-2/what-is-soc-2
  • What is the ONC Certification: https://www.healthit.gov/topic/certification-ehrs/about-onc-health-it-certification-program
  • Who is NCQA: https://www.ncqa.org/about-ncqa/
• Healthcare Data Standards
  • What is HL7V2: https://v2.hl7.org/conformance/HL7v2_Conformance_Methodology_R1_O1_Ballot_Revised_D9_-_September_2019_Introduction.html
  • What is FHIR: https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/2019-08/ONCFHIRFSWhatIsFHIR.pdf
  • What is DICOM: https://www.dicomstandard.org/about
  • What is LOINC: https://loinc.org/get-started/what-loinc-is/
  • What is SNOMED CT: https://www.snomed.org/what-is-snomed-ct
• GraphQL vs Rest APIs: https://www.medplum.com/blog/graphql-vs-rest
• What is composability: https://www.medplum.com/blog/composability-medplum
• Sid Sijibrandij, Founder of GitLabs on why companies should have a handbook: https://mocharymethod.org/mochary-method-ep-12/
• GitLabs Handbook: https://handbook.gitlab.com/
• Reshma uses Claude to help code and use as a sounding board or thought buddy: https://claude.ai/

—

Check out our website: https://www.concepttocare.com

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://concepttocare.substack.com/p/episode-16-reshma-khilnani