The right path forward for the digital health industry begins with a significant shift in the Silicon Valley mindset: “Move fast and break things” just won’t work. Source
That’s a powerful quote from Vic Gundotra, CEO of AliveCor. He’s right that you have to be much more careful in healthcare. That’s not always true. You can experiment on certain parts of healthcare without damaging a patient or a physician. However, you do have to be careful because it can quickly move into a regulated portion of healthcare. It’s a challenging balance.
Plus, even if you’re working in a regulated portion of healthcare we need to have more people who move fast and break things. They just need to do it within the regulations. While this is a challenge, it’s still possible. Plus, it becomes a massive competitive advantage when you do finally comply with all the regulations and provide value to the end user.
Vic offers this added insight:
What has been seen as a burden needs to be seen as a benefit. It’s time that we stop viewing regulatory bodies as obstacles and start viewing them as valuable partners.
In healthcare, entire industries are created around regulation. Regulations can be an enormous opportunity for entrepreneurs. That’s certainly a shift in mindset for many of those in silicon valley. Maybe that’s why so many big health IT companies come from places other than the valley.