The Health Innovators Show

A core foundation for market success is making sure that you’re laser-focused on the needs of your customers. Does your solution truly solve the clinical problem? Do you have validation to prove that it does, and it’s not just an assumption you’re making? In this episode, Dr. Kimon Angelides, CEO and Founder of Vivante Health, shares insights into how he’s been able to continuously beat the odds and find huge success with several businesses he’s built. We talk about: The critical need to solve a clinical problem that the “traditional” healthcare system recognizes and appreciates How passion can look a lot being crazy — and how that craziness is a backbone of the most successful innovators How to design a strategy that caters to your market, and how to pivot that strategy in the face of market changes like a big competitor Mistakes he’s made, like treating all customer accounts as equal (spoiler alert: they’re not, and it almost sank them)   Guest Bio Dr. Kimon Angelides is the CEO and Founder of Vivante Health, a pioneer in using digital medicine to manage digestive health. Prior to Vivante, he founded Livongo Health, a consumer digital health company with a focus on diabetes management.   But he wasn’t always in the business of improving population health through technology. He started his career as a biophysicist, spending more than two decades in academia. Later, he and his wife, a pediatric endocrinologist, launched Diabetes America, a network that eventually grew to nearly 50 centers in the southwest US.   To learn more, visit https://vivantehealth.com/. You can also connect with Dr. Angelides on LinkedIn or email him at kangelides@vivantehealth.com.

Many innovators find themselves wearing blinders on either the business side or the clinical side, without catering to the overlaps between the two. But this often results in big issues, like spending unnecessary resources — or worse, building an innovation that clinicians don’t actually need or want. In this episode, independent healthcare consultant Dr. Erkan Hassan explains 3 critical challenges that innovators need to balance: The business challenge of making sure you’re a commercial success Ensuring that you have clinical validation to prove that your innovation does what you say it does (without biting off more than you can chew) After the sale, making sure that you adapt to the health system’s workflows for long-term success We talk about staying solution-focused vs. product-focused, the massive importance of using a patient context lens to present your clinical outcomes, how to make sure you have just the right amount of evidence, and more.   Guest Bio As an independent healthcare consultant, Dr. Erkan Hassan couples clinical expertise and business skills to help health systems and startups. He works to identify the clinical challenges these companies face, then use evidence-based clinical data to create innovative, intelligent solutions that drive patient-centered quality outcomes. Formally trained as clinical pharmacist, Dr. Hassan spent the first half of his career working in academic medical centers to help manage drug therapy for ICU patients. After taking the academic route and working as an associate professor, he switched gears to become the Director of Clinical affairs for an ICU telemedicine startup. To learn more about Dr. Hassan, visit his personal website at https://www.erkanhassan.com/, where you can read and subscribe to his monthly blog. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn.

There are record amounts of investment into healthcare and provider-based services – but to get your slice of the market, you’ve got to be better, faster, and smarter than the big, traditional players. Successful innovators are zeroing in on the weaknesses of today’s healthcare industry and making them better. And by “better,” we mean working toward a model that caters to the demands of the changing landscape: better outcomes at a good value to all stakeholders, with a strong focus on the customer experience. In this episode, 4Sight Health CEO and author of The Customer Revolution in Healthcare: Delivering Kinder, Smarter, Affordable Care for All, David Johnson shares his insights on: How the market is shifting toward risk-based models that demand better value How new innovators are adapting to the shift and changing the game Tips for startups (and bootstrapped upstarts) to stay competitive, including a strong early adoption strategy   Guest Bio-  David Johnson is a speaker, writer and CEO of 4Sight Health. He is the author of The Customer Revolution in Healthcare: Delivering Kinder, Smarter, Affordable Care for All. For more information, visit https://www.4sighthealth.com/ , and buy the book here.

Splitting equity can be a hard and emotional subject for innovators, and the models used for these splits can be unfair for the parties involved. What is the Slicing Pie model and how does it solve many of these equity issues? How does this model help entrepreneurs work through the emotional aspects of giving up equity share? What are the different types of contributors in a startup and how do they get compensated differently? In this episode, Managing Director at Fair and Square Ventures and creator of Slicing Pie, Mike Moyer talks about this new model, and how it helps innovators.  Guest Bio-  Mike Moyer is an entrepreneur, author, educator, Managing Director at Fair and Square Ventures and creator of Slicing Pie, an equity model for early stage bootstrapped startups. Mike is an entrepreneur who has founded numerous companies including Bananagraphics, a product development and merchandising company; Moondog, an outdoor clothing manufacturing company; Vicarious Communication, Inc, a marketing technology company for the medical industry; Cappex.com, a site that helps students find the right college; and College Peas, LLC which provides publications and consulting on a variety of topics including, college admissions, trade shows and job search.In addition to his experience as an entrepreneur he has held a number of senior-level marketing positions with companies that sell everything from vacuum cleaners to financial data services to motor home chassis to luxury wine. Mike teaches Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.   For more information, visit https://slicingpie.com/.

Successful healthcare organizations build a successful structure and culture early on, and lay the right foundation from the onset. This is something many upcoming innovators can learn and implement early in their operations. How do we come up with compelling and powerful foundational messaging? What are the most pivotal decisions our guest’s team made that are paying off significantly now? How do we uphold the strength of our value proposition? On this episode, Chief Commercial Officer at Holon Solutions, Julie Mann, shares what has contributed to their success and the key lessons they’ve learned along the way.  Guest Bio-  Julie Mann is the Chief Commercial Officer at Holon Solutions. She leads commercial operations for Holon Solutions. Holon empowers their value-based care clients with patented, first-to-market, sensor-based solutions to surface contextual insights into the workflow.    Holon liberates the data to liberate the care. Julie is passionate about solving the challenges in healthcare through innovation, collaboration, and partnership. For more information, visit https://www.holonsolutions.com/ or connect with Julia on LinkedIn.

The results many innovators gain in the early market phase, don’t necessarily translate into main market success. In order to cross that gap, we have to look to adopt different ongoing models and frameworks. How do we take a fundamental breakthrough solution and bring it to market successfully? What does it take to deploy and instill what’s required to complete the solution for the buyer? On this episode, Chasm Institute Managing Director Michael Eckhardt, shares on the framework for increasing the chance of commercialization success, and how innovators can adopt it into their business practices.  3 Things We Learned  Inability to close the chasm accounts for many commercialization failures. The chasm is the period between early market and mainstream adoption. This gap exists between the early, enthusiastic, visionary risk-taking customers (who represent 5-8% of the market) and the mainstream market, which includes the pragmatists, conservatives, and regulatory groups. The excitement of the early market may not be enough to fuel adoption of customers in the mainstream, and innovators need to be aware of that.   Not everything in innovation is disruptive. Disruptive innovation is defined by having 2 or more of the following conventions - a change in behavior for the customer in that market sector, a change in skill, and a change in process of workflow.     9 criteria and factors for failure and success in crossing the chasm. The primary indicators of success or failure when we go to the market are target market focus, a compelling reason to buy, and a whole product solution. Additional factors are strategic partnerships, sales channels, pricing models, competition, positioning and messaging and how to move into other segments.   Guest Bio-  Michael Ekhardt is a keynote speaker, Senior Workshop Leader, strategy advisor and the Managing Director at the Chasm Institute. He is a veteran of Price Waterhouse (PwC), Harbridge Consulting, Hewlett-Packard, and Pepsico. An MBA graduate of Harvard Business School and a Wall Street Journal Award winner, Eckhardt is a recognized expert in leading 1-day and 2-day Market Strategy workshops aimed at one specific client outcome: accelerating growth for their technology-based products and services in the next 12-24 months.   Visit http://www.chasminstitute.com/ for more information and connect with Michael on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeleckhardt.

Many health innovators target large health systems as investors or buyers of their solutions. However, it can be challenging to know what innovations appeal to this customer group, whether they are open for collaboration, and who within the organization is most likely to buy or champion your innovation.    As a start-up, what is the minimum viable product you need to have already developed to pitch to a large health system? How do we get in front of the right key decision-makers? How do large health organizations build a culture of innovation? On this episode, we’re joined by Hackensack Meridian Health VP of Life Science & Innovation, Sandra Powell-Elliott. We discuss how their health system finds strategic partnerships and collaborations, gains adoption, and how they take a diverse approach to innovation. 3 Things We Learned  Networks are interested in strategic, goal-driven innovations Innovation can take many different forms, but the field is now gravitating towards goal-oriented or purpose-oriented innovation. Innovation is now currently focused on improving metric-oriented outcomes, and putting a provider at the forefront of healthcare in a measurable way.     Replacement cost is a minimum requirement for large health networks  At the very minimum, health networks are looking to invest in innovations that have a low replacement cost. If that replacement cost is low, that can translate into a net neutral and then from there we can move toward a more profit-driven economic model.    Target key decision-makers in large health systems If an organization has an innovation department, those are the people to contact first. If they don’t have people who specifically deal with innovation, go to the CFO or COO, or the Chief Safety Officer. Talk to high-level executives who are making the decisions. Department directors or division directors may have the ability to highlight you but they aren’t the key decision-makers.   Guest Bio-  Sandra Powell-Elliott is the Vice President of Life Sciences and Innovation at Hackensack Meridian Health. To get in touch with her, go to sandra.elliot@meridianhealth.org.

The healthcare system we have is incredibly complex, cumbersome and expensive, and that makes it extremely difficult to innovate within it. What are some of the barriers that innovators are running up against, and how can we mitigate them? How do we take consumer expectations and behavior into account? How does the healthcare model contribute to a lack of innovation within the system? On this episode, I’m joined by HealthEco CEO and Co-Founder, Roger Jansen. We talk about how to overcome the execution, adoption and implementation issues in innovation.  3 Things We Learned  Human adoption plays a huge role in successful commercialization  The barrier to the adoption of healthcare often isn’t whether the product is a better innovation. It’s actually more about people being willing to emotionally process change to do something differently. The consumer will be slow on the emotional side and won’t want to change to a new innovation easily, especially when it’s a transformative product, not just an enhancement of an existing solution.  The payment model of healthcare separates it from other consumer products  Free market principles don’t necessarily apply to healthcare, and a lot of it has to do with the payer model. Because the consumer pays only a very small portion for the services they receive, people don’t shop the way they do for other consumer products.     Don’t talk about features, talk outcomes  Frame up the problem as clearly as you can, don’t sell your innovation on the features. Sell very effectively on how the innovation makes life easier and better, not on how cool the technology is.    The healthcare sector has been harmed by a culture that doesn’t support new approaches, and it doesn’t even hire with a transformative intention. This has impeded innovation and made it impossible for change to come from within the system. All disruption in our industry comes from outside the system, but those innovators run into the same barriers and challenges. In order to succeed as innovators, we have to be focused on the problem we solve, not the features of our innovations. We have to think about the adoption of our solution, both on the consumer side, and from a health system perspective.

One of the side effects of a broken healthcare system is that there isn't enough fertile ground for innovation. How can innovators choose the most viable business models and go-to-market strategies? Where can we optimize and accelerate within the system in order to create growth? How can we rise above all the noise in the market? On this episode, healthcare entrepreneur, influencer, and Health Rosetta co-founder, Dave Chase shares how to solve the key issues that hinder successful commercialization.    3 Things We Learned  The healthcare system can lead innovations to the zombie graveyard. The optics of landing a big health system seems like the golden ring, but it too often ends up being a boat anchor for most innovators. Everything that encompasses the essence of a health system is the polar opposite of what it takes to successfully bring an innovation to market. Proof of this is a zombie graveyard littered with promising healthcare innovations that failed to materialize. Why? One reason is that we have to be incredibly smart about picking our customers.   Benefits brokers are an overlooked linchpin to solving healthcare. The relationship between employers and benefits brokers is the tip of the spear when solving problems in healthcare. Benefits brokers are the single most underestimated role in healthcare and the economy. For better or for worse, they make the decisions that most companies defer to and that’s what drives the state of healthcare.    Think beyond your own innovation. Don’t solely focus on promoting your own products. One of the best ways to accelerate the adoption of your innovation and create a highly defensible market position is to create a new product category and establish a leadership position in it. We should seek to be the voice in our sphere of influence for the category. Be a thought leader. By taking this approach, great outcomes will inevitably come your way.

When it comes to healthcare and innovation, the dysfunction of the system can seem hard to overcome without the right strategies. Why is it hard for some innovations to succeed? What are the key things you need to do in order to ensure your success? What are some of the biggest shifts in care delivery and benefits redesign? On this episode, primary care physician and Envision Genomics CEO, Dr. Grace Terrell shares on her perspective on innovation as an early adopter of value-based care. 3 Things We Learned  Innovators face a commercialization dilemma  Many innovators find themselves at a crossroads as they try to commercialize. First, they can circumvent the current system and go direct-to-consumer, which means coming up with creative cash and subscription models, while handling the costs of educating the consumer market. On the other hand, they can go into the healthcare system, which means dealing with longer budget cycles and outdated payment models. This is a critical choice any healthcare innovator must make, and the decision affects every element of the business. Why many innovations fail  It’s tempting to focus on one part of the commercialization process - the product itself. Other key details must be considered; whether the product really meets the needs of the target market, how the product scales and who pays for it.  The importance of being agile in innovation Don’t become too fixated on one market segment or approach, be flexible enough to pivot when shifts are necessary. Many things in healthcare can change, especially in terms of policy and all healthcare innovators need to be in a position to move quickly.    One of the biggest barriers to commercialization is how innovations are created. Healthcare innovators leave the industry to escape the dysfunction of the market, but end up creating products to sell back into that dysfunctional system. The problem is, it’s difficult to change healthcare outside of the system, or without involving many different people in the process. It takes a village to build a successful innovation and business, from investors, partners, willing payers and patients.