The digital health space refers to the integration of technology and health care services to improve the overall quality of health care delivery. It encompasses a wide range of innovative and emerging technologies such as wearables, telehealth, artificial intelligence, mobile health, and electronic health records (EHRs). The digital health space offers numerous benefits such as improved patient outcomes, increased access to health care, reduced costs, and improved communication and collaboration between patients and health care providers. For example, patients can now monitor their vital signs such as blood pressure and glucose levels from home using wearable devices and share the data with their doctors in real-time. Telehealth technology allows patients to consult with their health care providers remotely without having to travel to the hospital, making health care more accessible, particularly in remote or rural areas. Artificial intelligence can be used to analyze vast amounts of patient data to identify patterns, predict outcomes, and provide personalized treatment recommendations. Overall, the digital health space is rapidly evolving, and the integration of technology in health

Monday, July 6, 2015

10 Reasons Why Doctors Don't Think They Are Entrepreneurs

post courtesy of Arlen Meyers, M.D. President Society of Physician Entrepeneurs



Arlen Meyers, M.D.
The conventional wisdom about doctors is filled with myths. My favorites are 1) doctors are lousy with money, and 2) doctors are by their very nature and training risk averse, and 3) doctors don't have what it takes to be an entrepreneur or a business person, and 4) if you are not taking care of patients face to face then you are not a "real doctor". What do they do, tear your epaulettes off of the shoulders of your white coat when you stop and move on to something else?
But, perhaps the worse part of all this mythology is that, in many instances, doctors believe it . Yes, there are notable exceptions.
 There are other reasons too why doctors don't think they are entrepreneurs:
1. They think entrepreneurship is only about starting a business. 
2. They are afraid of what they don't understand 
3. The culture discourages adopting an entrepreneurial mindset 
4. They think money is dirty in medicine 
5. They think it erodes medical professionalism 
6. They are just too busy 
7. They have had a bad experience before or working with "business people" 
8. They actually believe doctors are bad business people 
9. They assume the costs exceed the benefits 
10. They are satisfied with what they are doing now and think switching to something else is too risky, particularly when they are, on average, $170,000 in debt when they graduate medical school. 
Part of the equation has to do with doctors taking risk and how that impacts entrepreneurship. I agree the conventional wisdom is that doctors are risk averse. But, certainly in not all instances, both clinically and non-clinically. In my view:
1. Most entrepreneurs are risk managers, not risk takers

2. Most investors are looking for proposals where the risk has been eliminated, managed or mitigated. The goal of early design and development is to derisk the market, technology and execution risk as much as possible

3. While most doctors will do well and many go into medicine for the job security and money, the high profile few who have declared bankruptcy would disagree

4. Different specialists have been shown to have different risk profiles under different clinical circumstances. Of course they are not dealing with their own skin in the game.

5. The risk-return spectrum runs from low to outrageous. Most play in the lower left. Those rock star entrepreneurs that the media loves to hype live in the upper right and probably represent a small segment of all entrepreneurs. As far as clinical risk I have expected some risky maneuvers in the OR when, in my clinical judgement, the circumstances warranted it and I was up against it. Sometimes , when faced with a dire emergency or impending complication, taking risk is justified.
Doctors are not lousy business people. There are many reasons why they have the potential to make great entrepreneurs as has already been demonstrated by many. And, no, in many instances, doctors are not risk averse. They just believe they are and it's one of the reasons why it is so hard to get doctors involved in biomedical and health innovation and entrepreneurship.
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs at www.sopenet.org

No comments:

Post a Comment