My friend introduced me to the concept of a “problem advocate” and I thought it was powerful. The idea is that someone takes responsibility for convincing entrepreneurs and other change agents that a problem is worth dedicating time to solving. These are the people who have built businesses before. The ones who attract talent, capital, and have the drive and connections to disrupt an industry. It’s hard for many of these individuals to notice healthcare — most of them are still young and haven’t experienced a health scare yet.
When someone does, it changes their internal calculus about what sorts of problems matter and what value being healthy has for someone who is sick. It’s hard to imagine without it hitting close to home. A few years ago I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, an autoimmune disease that affects the large intestines. With frequent visits to clinics, pharmacies, testing facilities and dealing with health insurance on the phone, I’ve come to see just how broken the system is. Not only are people having to deal with the physical and emotional toll of a disease, but they are also having to put up a serious fight against a bureaucratic system designed to limit the care they receive.
There is no place where financial opportunity and profound social good come together like the healthcare industry. The system, especially in the United States, is so deeply broken that nearly every part of it is ripe for technological innovation. Even the basics like payment systems and information transparency are mired in issues. It seems like the system has become corrupted in a way that stifles the very thing that it was created to do: provide compassionate care.
Given my experience within the system as a patient and within the market as an entrepreneur, it seems obvious that healthcare needs a reboot. The bottom line is that it’s worth your time to focus your passions and talents on solving problems in healthcare. They aren’t hard to find. They are tough, lucrative and when they are solved they will have a profound impact on the quality and length of peoples’ lives.
