[This is part 4 of a 4 part series of
posts based on the following: http://disrupthealthcare.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-different-kind-of-soup-building.html]
The goal of a typical health incubator
is to produce revenue-generating health IT companies. Revenue generation from the diaspora of a hospital-based incubator would likely be very welcome by
that hospital, particularly as reimbursement is shifting away from fee-for-service
and toward quality-based payments. In addition to commercial value, health
care institutions also embrace the creation of social value. I believe that the
two types of value sit on the same spectrum. The difference between the two
lies in the market determination of worth of the intervention that is produced.
The product of a hospital-based
incubator could be a new app, a new device, or a new care delivery model.
Regardless the type of deliverable, that product or service should
be tested in the marketplace to see if anyone is willing to pay for it. If no one is
willing to pay cash for the incubator innovation, that product or service may
not be well suited for scaling as a commercial product. However, the
deliverable may still have social value and dissemination of that intervention may need to be financed by grants rather than by reinvestment of profits. The ideal
deliverable has substantial social value and is self-sustaining and self-scaling
through revenue generation.
In conclusion to this series of blog posts, I would like to solicit input on my hypothesis that a hospital-based incubator will lead
to faster identification of problem-solution fit than the
traditional health IT incubator that is external the hospital. If
and when validation for this type of incubator is realized, a good next step
would be to explore the value of internalizing the investment machinery for a startup to assess if there are benefits to internally financing home grown solutions rather than seeking external funding to scale
innovations beyond the hospital walls.
No comments:
Post a Comment