Or, why software isn’t cheap, or ‘how cheap/free software guys grow the mistrust’, or….. you get the drift.
Recently a bunch of folks were talking about ‘software should be cheap’ or ‘software should be free’, and at the same time discussing ‘the growing distrust amongst the users, because those companies trade the data’.
Dr Vijay pulled me into the discussion, because it is my favorite topic. The tl;dr is here: if the software is free/cheap, you are the product, or access to your data also is.
Bias: We built a subscription-based practice management / tele-consultation software for doctors, and Outpatient clinics, named Slash Dr. You should check it out.
Health tech is hard, because doctors hardly have time to spend on software development. Being a consultant to a product is not enough. No half-measures; it is always ownership of a product & the company.
Expectations
There are certain expectations doctors have built over time:
- The software should be one-time purchase
- The software should NOT be cloud-based
- The software should be fully-developed
- Data should be owned by the doctor
- The software should require little-to-no maintenance
- Should be remotely accessible w/patient apps
- Should have appointment booking/teleconsultation
My reaction has always been questions.
One-time-purchase: Are you ready to be stuck in a product where ‘Sales’ for the seller is more important than ‘retaining the customer’? Sales:AMC would be 5:1. Who do you think the software company would care about?
No cloud-based software: Are you ready to buy, maintain, back-up, upgrade servers all by yourself? This is an upfront cost of 1L+, and a yearly fee, plus knowledgeable support folks. Do you know any?
Fully-developed software: This is a myth. I have no questions to ask here. Osirix, the darling of radiologists, took a decade+ to get to where it is today. Yes, it was full-price from Day 1.
Data should be owned by doctor: What do you think the legislation says? Sorry to rain in your parade. Doctors own no data; patients do own ALL the data created by doctor. Am guessing that this stems from the distrust on ‘cloud platforms’ like P****o. If one looks closely, they are in health commerce that serves patients, not in health tech that serves the doctor. Choose a product that represents you; please make time to see how the team has carried herself over a period of time. Ask around.
Little-to-no maintenance software: Would you like if the patient gets a prescription once, and reuses it without any additional checks? A myth again. All software needs work; all hardware needs replacement. Housekeeping is an important function. Fun fact: In a product life cycle, 70% of money is spent on maintenance, while the first thirty is spent on development.
Remotely accessible, and patient apps: Do you think you can say ‘patients can access data only during clinic timings? Patients are always free to access their records 24x7, so you need to keep all the infrastructure up all the time. In addition, if you want your own iOS & Android apps, you should get iOS & Android developer licenses — $124 annually, plus your own approval process.
Appointment booking & tele-consultation: What tech do you think video solutions use? This needs the server to be located on the cloud, or else you will end up buying a video software, which might be north of USD 10,000 one-time fee, plus AMC. Plus all bug fixes that come with it.
Sorry for all the bad news.
Software evolves. The features are requested, prioritised, get built and delivered constantly. Technology changes. Even older Apple/Android phones do not support newer OSes. Legislation changes. Point in case — Clinical Establishment Act, Prescription guidelines. Some are state specific, and governments also are learning because it is new to them.
SlashDr
When we built Slash Dr, our doctors wanted a software that:
- has a transparent pricing structure, that is not sold to different doctors at different price points
- removes headache of expensive servers, network and allied equipment
- negates the need for a local software/hardware technician who would charge per-visit regardless of whether it is backup, or upgrades, or the worst — failure of systems
- is available 24x7, barring maintenance
- is a suite of apps: iPad, Android TV, iOS for doctor and patient, Android for doctor and patient, Web, Fire TV
- takes care of regulations in a single-tap: MCI-standards prescription, CEA-compliant reports, and any future, annoying, regulatory paperwork
- has tele-consultation, compliant with guidelines
- takes care of technology shock (change in tech landscape, updates, upgrades), and MOST of all,
- is a representative of doctor: a custodian of all data generated by the doctor, and make data available when doctor and patient needs data the most
So, we built slashdr. We strongly believe health care is about three players : 1. Doctors, 2. Patients and 3. Government.
It costed us quite a good amount of money and time to build SlashDr. It took 4+ years to build, and about INR 6 crores. And we are yet to spend marketing money. We are selling subscriptions at INR 25K per doctor per year.
#shameless plug
As long as we build a doctor’s critical workflow: Vitals, History, History of Presenting Illness, Investigations, Physical examination, Diagnosis & Prescription, provide access for the patient to his/her data at any point in time, and satisfy regulatory provisions without the doctor having to worry regulations themselves, we will have a winning product.
We have doctors in the platform who see 120+ patients a day, and the specialists who see 4 patients a day. We generate prescriptions in under 10 seconds. See it to believe it.
We accounted for random behavior of patients, and doctor’s ability to accommodate that. We made using the app a delight with great UX, and good-looking UI.
We, Dr Vijay, Dr Mathan K, Dr Nandagopal Velayuthaswamy, Sonaal and Rajesh Padmanabhan, took 4+ years to develop. Take a look at https://slashdr.com and request a free, no-obligation demo. I will be happy to help.
