of health IT is still in its early days and is looking for some big breakout wins from which to spawn lots of new companies.
7. “Design is king and queen when you’re building something for consumers,” said John Morey from MyRozi, who described his company as “like Mint.com and Airbnb” for health. And that’s as true in health IT as it is for Facebook or any consumer tech play. Morey also urged entrepreneurs to “focus on the problem— you have to have that problem you’re solving.”
8. An important healthcare tipping point lies with the consumer, said Rick Lee from Healthrageous. “The burden is shifting from doctors and nurses to us,” he said, comparing health management to retirement planning, which has shifted from hands-off pension plans to hands-on 401(k) accounts.
9. “The good thing about healthcare being 15 years behind everything [else] is big data is still relevant to us.” That was Graham Gardner from Kyruus, who described his startup as “Moneyball for doctors.” He said he thinks of big data as a mirror that can show what doctors are best at, and what they’re not so good at, so they can be better matched to the right situations.
10. “I wouldn’t bet that the Aetnas and Blue Crosses are going to go away.” That was Frank Ingari of NaviNet, talking about the notion that health insurers will be big losers as the sector gets disrupted. “The industry might be disaggregated or recombined,” he said, but someone still has to do the gigantic claim systems, actuarial accounting, and so forth.
Last point: On the topic of whether healthcare entrepreneurs should look outside the U.S. to other countries, Ingari said, “If you’re looking for disruption, this is the one that’s going to be disrupted the most.”
