Joshua Liu, MD
Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD
LinkedIn: Joshua Liu
X: @joshuapliu
Co-host: The Digital Patient Podcast
Musings and Insights
5 reasons why adoption of Health Tech is slower than many would like:
1️⃣ 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲
It’s annoying but not catastrophic if a new spreadsheet tech doesn’t work.
But it can be catastrophic if health tech doesn’t work as intended and puts a patient’s health at risk.
Which means health systems must have a lower tolerance risk.
Which means tech in healthcare must be more carefully evaluated and thoughtfully deployed.
Which means more time.
2️⃣ 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬
When people complain about Health Tech adoption being too slow, they are most often talking about tech that would lead to better patient outcomes.
In a mostly fee-for-service world, tech that increases patient volumes, improves billing, etc. is going to face less resistance to adoption.
In contrast, tech that improves patient outcomes is going to have more of an uphill battle – especially if improving patient outcomes may actually lead to less revenue for a health system.
3️⃣ 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 – 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬
Clinicians are barely keeping their head above water with their current workflows and tools they have to use.
Asking them to use one more piece of tech?
Asking them to educate patients about one more innovation?
Good luck… it’s tough to fit it all.
4️⃣ 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 – 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐦 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝
In healthcare, sometimes it can take weeks or months to schedule the next meeting, particularly if you need a group of clinicians to weigh-in.
It can be hard enough to get time with one clinician whose days are jam packed with clinical work and patient care.
Imagine having to find that one time on the calendar where a whole clinical team is available… and then it gets re-scheduled because a patient care issue comes up.
Happens all the time.
Wouldn’t happen in other industries where stakeholders have more flexible schedules.
5️⃣ 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝
Most Health Tech impacts multiple stakeholders – patients, clinicians, administrators, IT / privacy, etc.
Depending on the people dynamics, there may be several folks who can veto the initiative.
Which means you need to have a strong value prop for almost every single type of stakeholder.
What would you add?
5 reasons why adoption of Health Tech is slower than many would like:
1️⃣ Patient safety
It’s annoying but not catastrophic if a new spreadsheet tech doesn’t work.
But it can be catastrophic if health tech doesn’t work as intended and puts a patient’s health at risk.
Which… pic.twitter.com/gTCxvH5h83
— Joshua Liu (@joshuapliu) July 8, 2024
The Digital Patient
The Digital Patient takes an “edu-taining” approach to all things digital patient care. On this show hosts Dr. Joshua Liu, and Alan Sardana talk with healthcare, technology, and innovation leaders about the latest advancements in digital health, trends in digital transformation, and strategies for optimizing the patient experience.