124: Why Digital Health is Failing

Show Notes

Digital Health is Failing: From Clinical Outcomes to Return on Investment

Millions have been invested in digital health with relatively little true value creation in the form of clinical outcomes, population health, or return for investors. In whichever way you measure (economic or clinical) we are leaning towards the reality that digital health is failing. Why? I think it has to do with 2 things: 1) the disconnect between the perceived benefits and value of these solutions and the actual behavioral change required to implement them and 2) the context of today’s healthcare vs. the ideal of healthcare’s future in value-based care. Over the past couple of weeks, I made a LinkedIn post on the topic of the necessary behavioral changes needed to implement digital health solutions and the context of today’s western healthcare industry, where health insurance is conflated with healthcare. Both of those posts took off, with some lively discussion, so I figured it would be worth doing a podcast episode exploring the topic Why Digital Health is Failing.

So, this week, I share some of my thoughts on this topic and a couple of the solutions I see in this problem.

 

What we cover in this Episode:

• Understanding the conflation between health insurance and healthcare
• The importance of understanding the behavioral changes required to implement new technologies
• The troubles with the fee for service model of healthcare
• Why a solid positioning strategy can drive leads, but won’t necessarily drive utilization
• The pros and cons of launching in today’s digital health market
• Understanding the importance of implementation and clinical workflows
• Achieving Better Outcomes by leveraging technology to streamline processes and reduce costs

 

We post videos of certain podcast episodes, including this episode, which can find on the YouTube Channel.

 

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• Learn About Working with Me

 

For More:

If you enjoyed this episode: Join Rafael E. Salazar II, MHS, OTR/L (Rafi), principal of Rehab U Practice Solutions and host of The Better Outcomes Show as he explores the possibilities of a new healthcare. Guests range from clinicians trying new techniques and treatments to executives and entrepreneurs exploring new service delivery methods, business models, and organizational structures. You can sign-up to receive new episodes delivered directly to your inbox by filling out the form below.  Learn more about Rehab U Practice Solutions by reading The Manifesto for a New Healthcare, or listen to Episode 000. Or, grab a copy of the book: Better Outcomes: A Guide to Humanizing Healthcare.

 

Are You Ready to Humanize Healthcare?

If you run an innovative healthcare company and are looking to develop a strategy that leverages best practices, new technology, and marketing/messaging in a way that returns the focus of healthcare to people, please reach out. I’d love to talk with you about how Rehab U Practice Solutions can help help you craft an business development strategy that leverages positioning, market research, stakeholder alignment to drive business development strategy for specific healthcare stakeholders.

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Rafael E. Salazar II, MHS, OTR/L (Rafi) is the Principal Owner of Rehab U Practice Solutions and the host of The Better Outcomes Show and the author of Better Outcomes: A Guide to Humanizing Healthcare. His career trajectory includes 12+ years of experience in healthcare management, clinical operations, programmatic development, marketing & business development. He even spent some time as an Assistant Professor in a Graduate Program of Occupational Therapy and has served on numerous boards and regulatory committees. He has worked on projects ranging from patient engagement initiatives to marketing communication campaigns to a multi million dollar project assisting the State of Georgia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities transition individuals out of state institutions to community residences. His work on Telehealth has been discussed in Forbes.

Today, Rafi helps innovative healthcare companies like technology startups, platforms, SaaS companies & innovative healthcare organizations develop effective positioning strategy and business development plans through his consulting work. He also leverages his experience as a professor and academic to speak and train on the topics around humanizing the healthcare experience & healthcare innovation. In addition, Rafi also owns and operates ProActive Rehabilitation & Wellness, a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic treating patients with musculoskeletal pain.

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Work With Me

If you are an innovative healthcare company looking to humanize healthcare through direct service delivery, technology, a device, or software, then reach out. We’d love to talk with you about how Rehab U Practice Solutions can help.

What we can help you do:

✅ Clarify your product, service, or organization’s positioning strategy…

✅ Identify what is most valuable and least valuable to your targeted healthcare stakeholder…

✅ Develop a Market Penetration Roadmap to align your company’s value proposition with your targeted healthcare stakeholder to develop a bottom up marketing strategy…

We help you not only craft your healthcare positioning strategy, we help you identify your highest value offer for your target audience, align that value with your market, and help you develop a business development system that leverages insights from market data & industry-specific resources to enable your business development team to effectively drive business for your organization.

I also speak and train at healthcare conferences, events, and organizations on topics related to technology-enabled care, healthcare innovation, healthcare positioning, and humanizing the healthcare experience. 

 

Learn More Here!

 

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What is The Better Outcomes Show?

Exploring the possibilities of a new healthcare.



Let’s get real: Healthcare is broken. You know it. I know it. Every clinician who came into this field from a desire to care for others, knows this to be undeniably true. We feel it everyday when we enter our clinics, hospitals, and practices. We feel the burden of time-based productivity metrics, utilization rates, and the expectation to behave like cogs in a giant, soul-crushing machine aimed at extracting revenue from our patients in exchange for “units” of treatment.



Healthcare should be about one thing: PEOPLE! Yet how many clinics, organizations, or healthcare professionals live their lives by the numbers? Metrics & spreadsheets drive most of our healthcare decision makers and administrators. That leaves patients -the people we serve- lost in the mix. Patient’s feel lost, forgotten, and ignored by a system that prioritizes efficiency & productivity over their own personal experiences, priorities, or goals.



It’s time for clinicians to finally stand up and say what we’ve all been thinking for so long: enough is enough!



It’s time for healthcare organizations to commit to serving the individual needs of each unique patient that they are charged with serving.



Join Rafael E. Salazar II, MHS, OTR/L (Rafi), principal of Rehab U Practice Solutions and host of The Better Outcomes Show as he explores the possibilities of a new healthcare. Guests range from clinicians trying new techniques and treatments to executives and entrepreneurs exploring new service delivery methods, business models, and organizational structures.