5 Unexpected Benefits of Being a Clinician Entrepreneur

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Posted By: Healthcare NOW Radio Host July 3, 2024

Joshua Liu, MD

Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD
LinkedIn: Joshua Liu
X: @joshuapliu
Co-host: The Digital Patient Podcast
Musings and Insights

𝟏. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫

Don’t know how to “sell?”

Have no idea how to read – let alone build – a financial model?

Hate being rejected?

Feel awkward at networking events?

Never had to manage people more skilled and experienced than you?

Well whether you like it or not… you have to learn and grow at all of these and more.

𝟐. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬

Most healthcare inventions get stuck in a neverending pilot or research study, and never make it to true innovation that is disseminated across a healthcare system.

But until you have the urgency to try and scale something (i.e. you go out of business if you don’t get broad dissemination), you don’t actually learn if your idea could be sustained.

Is there a viable, sustainable business model?

Does your invention only work in your own health system (especially because you were personally driving it), but it’s actually too complicated or not important enough to get adopted elsewhere?

It’s easy to speculate that your invention will scale… until you actually have to prove it.

𝟑. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬

Assuming you’re working on something innovative, most people you pitch won’t be believers.

But the few visionaries and early adopters that get on board?

Wow, those are some special, courageous, forward thinking providers.

For unimaginable reasons, they will break down doors for you and evangelize your vision with you.

And you get to collaborate with them and learn from them.

How amazing is that?

𝟒. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞

Unlike clinical care, there’s no guaranteed market for an innovative new product.

So you’re forced to learn about all the different possible incentives, reimbursement models, key stakeholders and more.

You’re forced to ask healthcare decision makers what their priorities REALLY are (and often get surprised by what you hear).

Because if you can’t figure out a viable business model, you’re toast.

As much as clinicians grew up being told “business is evil”, the reality is that the only way to improve healthcare at scale is to deeply understand how the business of healthcare works.

𝟓. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭… 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

With decades of experience, most clinicians will become masters of their craft.

As an entrepreneur, the moment you get “good enough” at one new skill to survive… you’ve simply earned the right to learn a new one.

The goals just get bigger and the mountain you climb just gets higher.

What did I miss?

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.