Medical education is a $40 billion market and ripe for disruption
How evidence-based medicine is driving innovation in new models of medical education
A $40 billion TAM that is wide open for innovation (maybe even disruption)
Global Medical Education (Med Ed) is a $40+ billion market and projected to grow at a 4% CAGR.[1] It mainly consists of two segments: Online learning and Blended learning. Online learning is delivered over the internet. Blended learning, also known as hybrid learning, combines online and in-person learning. COVID-19 exposed structural weaknesses in the Med Ed space, which, combined with trends discussed below, present an attractive opportunity for innovation, maybe even disruption.
Value-based medicine is changing healthcare education
As the transition to value-based healthcare continues, Medical Education providers are adding more evidence-based content to their offerings. Unfortunately, Medical Education’s delivery experienced significant disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic making the future uncertain. This disruption has opened up opportunities for emerging technologies like AI for adaptive learning, virtual reality for immersive learning, live streaming for conferences, and social media to disseminate research findings and insights rapidly to a global audience.
Med Ed Market fragmented with few big players
The global medical education market is fragmented. The top players include Gundersen Health System, Olympus Corporation, Tact Academy for Clinical Training, Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc., GE Healthcare, American College of Radiology, Healthcare Training Institute, Harvard Medical School, The Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University, CAE Healthcare, and Siemens Healthineers AG. Their relative size may give them an advantage but leave them vulnerable to more nimble and creative upstarts.
The academic journal publishing process is hopelessly broken
A Stanford University study found that only 12% of physician authors[2] are satisfied with the academic publishing process. Each journal has unique formatting requirements with no known software solutions that address this effectively. They lose several weeks trying to manually meet formatting requirements, which could otherwise be used for patient care.
#FOAMed (Free Open Access Meducation Movement)
A small amount of medical research meets the quality standards of peer-review publications, leaving the rest inaccessible to the broader research community. This frustration with academic publishing and the belief that insights from research are more effective and impactful when shared with relevant audiences promptly led to the rise of the “Free Open Access Meducation” movement popularly known by the hashtag #FOAMed.[3]
The Tweetorial and the return to why
Tweetorials, a popular form of #FOAMed content, has democratized medical education by allowing experts to engage with audiences without relying on traditional channels like journals and conferences. It marked a shift from asking “what” to instead asking “why,” making learning more gratifying. Even the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)noticed this trend and covered it extensively in a recent article[4]. High levels of physician engagement in Social Media and the value they derive from Tweetorials show that this new format is here to stay and could even disrupt the medical education establishment. The creation of Tweetorials is a very manual process, and software doesn’t currently exist to create content, share, and track engagement. There’s also a perception that this is a Twitter-only format, which is simply not true. Tweetorials, once created, can be shared widely on other sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Sermo, Doximity, Grandrounds, and Figure1.
Not your grandfather’s KOL
By using social media, physician-researchers can reach a more general, more diverse audience, find new opportunities and build a strong personal brand. We already see some of that with the emergence of a new kind of influencer: The Digital Opinion Leader (DOL), who is very different from the traditional KOL. These DOLs receive opportunities for collaboration and speaking engagements without publishing as much as the regular KOLs in peer-reviewed journals. They increase their institution’s brand reputation and help attract students who otherwise would have gone elsewhere.
A new breed of influencer needs a new kind of software
Unfortunately, there is no off-the-shelf software that DOLs can use to create content and grow their audiences. There is a great need for software designed to create Visual Abstracts, Case Reports, Tweetorials, and journal submissions. It would ideally have analytics capabilities to monitor engagement and maximize reach. Unlike HCP social networks, this software will connect via APIs to EHRs and PACS systems to extract and deidentify (HIPAA compliant) relevant data and images. Content aggregation (Medium style) and organization into different categories, e.g., Care Pathways, Case Reports, Tweetorials, and Patient Education, will be possible once users opt into content syndication. It will personalize content for users like Medical Students, HCPs, Industry Reps, Digital Health Coaches, and Community health workers using adaptive models, which should increase the overall user experience and stickiness.
A great SaaS opportunity
The software will be sold as an annual subscription with a sliding scale rate depending on the tier of service. Content syndication also offers an attractive revenue opportunity and will likely involve a revenue-sharing agreement with the content creators or their institutions.
