It's like a brief diploma-less MBA program, like a Montessori MBA.
When good ideas make bad business
21–30 of 361 posts
Re: When good ideas make bad business
#22Could you try to sell it to insurance companies? They might find value in providing it for free to clinicians because they might save money with better outcomes / preventing follow up visits.
Insurance companies could also use the data to argue with healthcare providers about what the best cost vs value is on a course of treatment, but they probably already have data scientists doing this kind of work for them. Insurance adjusters and all that...
Re: When good ideas make bad business
#23Build it and they will come they said, follow your dreams they said...
yeah, right.
Re: When good ideas make bad business
#24I was given some advice long ago that I stick to, and which avoids situations like this entirely -- if a startup cannot point to a repeatable transaction where they get revenue in exchange for something... then it not a business, it is a side project.
Admittedly, side projects can grow into something over time, as you evolve the idea. But there is zero reason to quit your job for such ideas.
Re: When good ideas make bad business
#25Seems a case of someone not understanding the economics of the vertical they're entering and not wanting to put the effort (ie: time/money) to learn. Doctors generally don't directly make money by having patients get more healthy. Other entities however do. Insurance companies may, self-insured employers definitely do, and hospital chains may (if they're getting bundled payments for procedures). These entities howeve…
There is a value-based angle here. But as the psychiatrist told him, she doesn't make any more or less by prescribing one drug vs. another. If he was able to link the use of a specific drug to improved outcomes (READ: fewer repeat visits, less time in the hospital), then it could be something that ACTUALLY reduces costs.
Re: When good ideas make bad business
#26Re: When good ideas make bad business
#27So one thing I will add, you might want to approach the companies that are at the top of the list and offer them the tool as a sale tool.
But overall, the goal of health care as a commercial Endover is to keep you sick (I.e., not healthy, since then you will not spend, and not dead).
So the goal of selling to health care professionals is actually the opposite of your goal of helping patients.
Re: When good ideas make bad business
#28It's a shame this project was shuttered as what screenshots are posted look amazing.
Better data aggregation is desperately needed in medicine and sadly I think the creator has walked face first into the horror of cost merely to access clinical trials. Plus, the cost of paying contractors to extract the actually useful information from those trials.
These are key reasons why Open Science and Open Data are so critical, to produce tools like this one. Sadly I don't think there is a "Startup" level of money available for it even so.
Re: When good ideas make bad business
#29You should market this to insurance companies, not individual doctors. At their scale, they can use the data to drive their costs down, and can build a business case for paying you something.
Insurance companies have very little/not at all influence over prescribing patterns of physicians. If you could tie this improved outcomes, then there is a business model here.
Re: When good ideas make bad business
#30It's a shame this project was shuttered as what screenshots are posted look amazing. Better data aggregation is desperately needed in medicine and sadly I think the creator has walked face first into the horror of cost merely to access clinical trials. Plus, the cost of paying contractors to extract the actually useful information from those trials. These are key reasons why Open Science and Open Data are so critical…
He might not have succeeded in getting rich, but he can still turn this into an incredibly effective $40k donation to public health research.
I'm sure there is a researcher out there who can find hosting for this service, and maybe continue to keep it up to date with new trials.