> the sad truth is that medical industry doesn't welcome software disruptions
This is a message that really needs to stop being regurgitated around the technology start-up space.
The medical industry DOES welcome software disruptions. The past two years have been the two biggest years in healthcare software disruption, in terms of VC dollars invested in that sector[0], the number of accelerators that have accepted healthcare related start ups (YC has now invested in a several) and the rise of accelerators focused on healthcare (e.g. Rock Health, Health Box) that have graduated over 100 'small and agile' teams that have established product-market fit, and raised institutional funding.
Healthcare is a space that does require a significant understanding of industry-specific knowledge (third party payment models and regulations are examples), but I feel that many other industries that are being disrupted have similar barriers to entry.
In my experience, most developers ignore the medical industry, citing similar complaints as yours, but neglect to mention the incredible growth that has been demonstrated in that industry for a while now...
Raising funding is one way to punch through the hurdles discussed in the article. I think the point is that if you want to innovate, why should it take $5M in funding if you can demonstrate a good idea working. Answer: all the reasons mentioned in the article.
Small and agile is a function of penetration in the healthcare market --- the regulatory friction and customer requirements will slow them down considerably as they (hopefully) move past initial pilots. There a hundreds of small startups in HIT that get 1 or 2 pilots, but then never get past that point, likely due to the points in this article.
I welcome more and more funding in this space to help educate the buyers and realign priorities toward efficiency vs. status quo. But the industry does not welcome disruptions of any kind. VCs do, in terms of VC dollars invested.
I would make a guess that the ROI YC makes on its HIT investments will pale in comparison to other industries in the long term. Only PG will know.
This is a message that really needs to stop being regurgitated around the technology start-up space.
The medical industry DOES welcome software disruptions. The past two years have been the two biggest years in healthcare software disruption, in terms of VC dollars invested in that sector[0], the number of accelerators that have accepted healthcare related start ups (YC has now invested in a several) and the rise of accelerators focused on healthcare (e.g. Rock Health, Health Box) that have graduated over 100 'small and agile' teams that have established product-market fit, and raised institutional funding.
Healthcare is a space that does require a significant understanding of industry-specific knowledge (third party payment models and regulations are examples), but I feel that many other industries that are being disrupted have similar barriers to entry.
In my experience, most developers ignore the medical industry, citing similar complaints as yours, but neglect to mention the incredible growth that has been demonstrated in that industry for a while now...
[0] http://rockhealth.com/resources/rock-reports/digital-health-...