How to Build a Successful Digital Health Business?
As the world is rapidly adapting to digitalization in their lives, the healthcare domain is no exception. Technology has changed every facet of the healthcare industry by revolutionizing how we monitor health, interact with doctors, consume medical information, etc. — and it continues to evolve and grow.
According to Statista, the digital health business and technology market is expected to witness an annual growth rate of 11.94%, ultimately resulting in a market volume of $256.30 billion by 2027. This article will dissect and bring forward the anatomy of building a successful digital health firm.
While technology was already being leveraged across the healthcare sector in various forms, the pandemic has fueled digital health businesses by making healthcare more accessible to the public. Reputed organizations in technologies, life sciences & retail sectors are slowly & steadily entering the domain, along with many other startups. They seek to create value with innovation and service offerings.
An excellent digital healthcare platform provider should carefully decipher how their business model can cater toward long-term sustainability. Comprehensive planning and good foresight are the main factors that expedite successful digital health. Apart from these, explained below are the few best practices for digital health startups that can allow them to incorporate scalability.
Aligning Value Proposition of Digital Health Business with Customer Needs
Digital health software development is not something to be taken lightly. There are gazillion digital health startups and reputed businesses providing cutting-edge tech and innovation solutions, yet, not all are successful. The point is, does your product meet the needs of stakeholders? Does it make a real difference in their life?
Some impactful digital health startups have emerged in recent times. Driven by problems faced in their real lives, these startups aim to simplify the tasks of stakeholders. If your business model is genuinely aligned with the needs/interests of stakeholders, then it is bound to succeed in the longer run.
Developing a Clever Product and Experience for End Users
For a technology to be successful, irrespective of the industry, it must be practical for application. A great example in the field of healthcare is telemedicine. During Covid, telemedicine picked up to meet the surge in demand. While it already existed, many reputed US-based companies noted a massive spike, as high as a 158% increase in usage.
That said, while the opportunities have gone up, so have the competition. Thus, it is more important than ever for digital health businesses to provide unique and convenient solutions that meet the demands of their end customers.
One of the critical factors to keep in mind while incorporating this strategy is taking inputs. Understanding patients’ medical conditions and incorporating the suggestions in the product can help a digital health product company stand out from the crowd. What happened in the “wearenotwaiting” movement is an illustration of this. Due to a lack of artificial pancreas supply, the diabetes community developed a DIY one that works. Thus, every other product that integrates a patient advisory board will always have a significant edge over others.
Choosing an Approved Regulatory Path
Regulatory clearance is a critical and time-taking process for digital health products to reach the markets in the healthcare industry. And many times, when not taken into consideration at the beginning stage, it becomes difficult or even impossible to launch the product for public use. Thus, winning regulatory approvals has multiple benefits, including market access and credibility.
According to a survey filled by multiple digital health startups, interviewees suggested that it needs significant efforts to gain and maintain approval during development and commercialization. According to US laws, you must fulfill extensive documentation if you make software updates in products under regulatory approval. Furthermore, any change to its underlying mechanism would require you to apply for new regulatory submission.
Making Your Digital Health Business Model Sustainable & Scalable
While developing a product, it is essential to keep in mind the short-term applications and their market feasibility in the long run. The product, program, or service you aim to deliver must be sustainable and scalable to fetch profits for your business to sustain. One way to ensure this is by allowing a relevant Ministry’s involvement in approvals and product development in partnership with the Ministry. It is more appropriate in cases where digital health technologies and tools mandate hosting, managing, and maintaining within the country.
Another thing to consider for the companies that offer digital healthcare solutions is the revenue model. As funding is central to the sustainability of digital health tools, mobile-based solutions can view a revenue-sharing model or private-public financing partnership. One of the most common features adapted by multiple mobile-based digital health startups in a revenue-sharing model is to charge a fee based on app subscribers and subsidize those unable to pay for services.
The app offering digital health solutions must also be developed keeping in mind its long-term applicability and integration with newer technology, i.e., the latest Operating Systems and more.
Ensuring Transparency in Communication with Users
So, what are the impacts of the digitalization of health services? In the age of digitalization in the healthcare sector, it has become essential to be available and interact with your audience on their platforms. As a result, organizations are using social media to communicate with their audience and build trust in their products/services. This has become a must-have for businesses today to reach out to people and improve their brand presence and acceptability. Going against this trend might not bode well for the business and the audience.
For instance, consider that there is a digital healthcare solutions startup that came out with an exceptional product but went silent on public platforms. They did not launch any new products or communicate with the audience on existing offerings. Despite their product being accurate and practical in usage, online users can start reporting a lack of availability and other problems they are facing with the product. They can quickly blame the management for all the issues they are facing.
To establish viable digital health business models, it is not only essential to establish a good product/service but also to promote it. Hence, the audience knows what it is, where/how they can get it, and how a digital health platform will benefit them.
Digital health solutions providers seeking digital health app development can share noteworthy claims backed by solid research to make a better impact on the audiences. In addition to this, sharing case studies and other forms of content online to build can also help in ensuring product knowledge. Social media is an excellent platform to communicate your message and understand and resolve customer concerns, as multiple people use it for sharing grievances.
Wrapping Up
The digital health momentum created over the past few years is here. Though creating successful digital health business models requires every organization to capture value, the only end goal they want to achieve is improving healthcare with their products. Opting for healthcare software development services can help you create a unique USP to venture into the digital healthcare industry and implement a sustainable business model.
