The Three Most Important Things I Learned From Our “Is Blockchain Interested In Healthcare” Conference Call on April 25th
Last Wednesday we had a lively conversation with Ildar Fazulyanov, CEO of JoinWell, a veteran in healthcare, fintech and VC and Samir Damani, clinician and technology entrepreneur, CEO of Mint Health on why and how they developed their CryptoHealth platform.
I learned from them 3 things:
1. Cryptohealth platforms can be very different but also complimentary
Ildar’s journey started when he broke his leg abroad in 2015 and did not find easy access to quality care. His dismay from the lack of access and the high cost of care led him and his team to build a platform (he calls“the airbnb of healthcare”). It provides a 24/7/365 global network of multilingual doctors and specialists, where patients receive care in their native language wherever they are in the world. By simplifying payment fulfillments and lowering payment risk by adding a health gap insurance, Ildar’s vision of a decentralized token economy is projected to lower the costs of unforeseen expenses up to 30% compared to current rates.
Samir’s patient-centric solution is different. As a cardiologist he is concerned of the growing chronic disease epidemic. Forty of the 56 million annual global deaths occur from preventable conditions like heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer. The medical community spends vast resources battling the complications of these diseases, rather than preventing them. Mint Health’s token economics (Proof-of-Health) is based on engaging patients, healthcare providers and payors in a redemption ecosystem.
Both panelists spoke about the inefficiencies, waste and dissatisfaction from the current system. Interestingly, Join Well concentrates on “epistrophic” (episodic and catastrophic) care, while Mint Health is focused on chronic conditions.
2. Cool ideas and Whitepapers are not enough and a Heads-on Disruption won’t work
What became clear was that designing and building a CryptoHealth solution from scratch is very difficult. Both CEOs stressed that their strong network and access to technologies and developer teams were critical assets to leverage while building their platforms. Samir spoke about the previous solutions he developed (MD Revolution and Nucleus Health) and how he is leveraging them into MintHealth. Ildar spoke to his vast global network of JoinWell case users he has already secured in the US, China, Korea, Japan and Estonia.
Both spoke at length about the probable changes Blockchain will bring into healthcare and cautioned that a heads-on approach for disruption is not only unlikely, but will be encountered with resistance if strategic partners are not included in early stages. As I wrote before, Healthcare is a multi-stakeholder, friction-full, data-rich, heavily regulated ecosystem with a lot of potential for disruption, however one must take into account it’s complexities or to quote the President:
“‘Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated’”…(President Donald Trump, February 28, 2017)
3. If we want change we must start spreading the word about CryptoHealth Solutions TODAY
As I mentioned in the invitation to this phone conference, the Crypto-community is not investing in Healthcare (yet). Of the $6B invested in Q1 2018 less than $100MM (1.6%) were invested in cryptohealth compared to almost $3B in VC funding for digital health. When polled, 75% of our listeners said too that: “VC’s are not or not yet interested in investing in cryptohealth”.
For this to change we must engage. If we believe that Blockchain technology can simplify payment transactions, dis-intermediate waste and predatory practices, create secure data liquidity to enhance clinical research and incentive patients into practicing healthy behavior then we must support each other and educate the community at large.
As for what will happen when Healthcare will become 100% crypto, the answer is:
In the meantime please listen to the conference call here.
Also do not forget to visit our CryptoOracle page and clap to my weekly posts (I promise!).
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