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Radical change does not sell to the healthcare masses

When I went to my first healthcare technology conference, Health 2.0 (2009), the energy in the air was palpable.  Everyone thought their "remote patient monitoring with a social network so you're always connected with your physician" app was going to revolutionize healthcare delivery.  With hindsight, it's safe to say that the majority of these companies missed the mark.  Although not short on imagination or technology, they missed a fundamental understanding of healthcare technology adoption.  Radical change does not sell to the healthcare masses.  To understand why it's important, look at the mindset of the clinicians and the healthcare organizations.

Right now, clinicians have the same mindset that consumers had when we were using Windows '95; they expect technology to fail.  Not only do they expect it to fail, they expect it to get in the way.  Every new go-live will bring with it hours of training, workflow disruptions, new systems to learn, and added work to their plate.  The healthcare organizations feel the same way as most projects go over budget, cause months of headaches, and lead to upset clinicians.

Radical change is not accepted because everyone has seen what happens with poorly implemented technology.  Instead, what you should be doing is focusing on the one piece that solves a current need for healthcare organizations.  Then do it - really well.  Healthcare organizations can swallow incremental changes because that one piece, done well, will provide them the efficiency, workflow, and quality gains they are looking for.  

Bottom line: Selling incremental change over radical change will greatly increase your likelihood of success.  

 

Posted by jonathanbaran 

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