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platforms
“The Point Solution Paradox” in Healthcare’s Adoption of AI
AI adoption in healthcare is facing “The Point Solution Paradox”. This paradox highlights the intricate balance between the necessity of point solutions in the evolution of AI in healthcare and the challenges they pose in an already fragmented industry.
Here’s a roadmap to this post:
- Investment and innovation has been dynamic, but adoption lags
- A 3-phase framework for AI adoption
- The Point Solution Paradox
- Care providers prefer integrated solutions
- A case study of The Point Solution Paradox: medical imaging
- How will The Point Solution Paradox play out in healthcare?
This blog post is the first in an occasional series examining the synergies between AI and platforms.
Investment and Innovation has Been Dynamic, But Adoption Lags
The digital health landscape has been dynamic. A 2023 report by FINN Partners and Galen Growth documented that there are over 9,000 digital health ventures worldwide. An analysis by Tracxn estimated that there are over 3,147 AI startups in healthcare in the United States alone.
However, the adoption of AI in healthcare has lagged for varied reasons. For example, an August 2023 report by Bain and Company found that only 6% of health systems have a generative AI strategy.
Thus, a pivotal question arises: How will future AI adoption unfold in healthcare?
The Mathematical Imperative for Platforms in Healthcare
Network mathematics explains the imperative for platforms in healthcare.
There are only two ways to make connections in a network — i.e., ways to connect the diverse nodes in a network. The first is through point-to-point connections. A simple diagram (below) provides an example of the math. Here there are six different participants in a healthcare network. If you rely on point-to-point interfaces – such as email, fax, phone, in-person contacts – there are 15 possible connection points to make.
In a point-to-point network, as the number of nodes in a network increases linearly, the number of possible connection points increases exponentially.
The connections between the nodes can represent potential communications, actions, or data transfers. You can also think of the connections as potential failure points in a network — where communications, actions, or data transfers should happen but don’t.
The other way to connect nodes – or people – in a network is through a network hub — a platform.
Creating a New Healthcare Podcast — The Platform Revolution in Healthcare
“Creating a New Healthcare” by Zeev Neuwirth, MD is an amazing podcast series. “The Platform Revolution in Healthcare” is the topic that Randy Williams, MD and I were privileged to discuss as guests.
Listen to this episode of Creating a New Healthcare!
Here’s a SUMMARY from Dr. Neuwirth’s show notes:
The topic of this episode is about an emerging healthcare marketplace transformation, which is the introduction of platforms into healthcare.
What surprised me about this movement is how many years it’s been developing. For example, last July I attended the 2022 MIT Platform Strategy Summit. Turns out it was their 10th annual symposium on this topic.
The first day was dedicated to healthcare and entitled, ‘The Platform Revolution Comes to Healthcare’. The opening presentation was entitled, Healthcare Platform Megatrends: Discovering the Power of Network Effects. [Slides and Video are available]
Our two podcast guests delivered that presentation. It was the most lucid and engaging explanation I’ve ever heard on the topic.…
Inaugural MIT Conference: The Platform Revolution Comes to Healthcare
The first conference event to focus on digital platforms in healthcare! Attend in-person or virtually — the afternoon of July 13, 2022.
“The Platform Revolution Comes to Healthcare: A Deep Dive at the 2022 MIT Platform Strategy Summit”
The MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy is excited to announce this inaugural 1/2 day event leading into the 10th Annual MIT Platform Strategy Summit the following day, on July 14. Through several feature keynotes and panel sessions involving industry experts, this event is designed to explore how digital health platforms are key enablers of transformation in healthcare.
Confirmed speakers and panel members include:
* Jonathan Bush, CEO, Zus Health
* Nancy G. Brown, General Partner, Oak HC/FT
* Michael Byczkowski, Global VP, Head of Healthcare, SAP
* Michael Cantor, Chief Medical Officer, Uber Health
* William Febbo, CEO, OptimizeRx
* Adam Grossman, Partner, Deerfield Management
* Christian Howell, VP & GM, Aetion
* Seth Joseph, Managing Partner, Summit Health
* Vince Kuraitis, Principal, Better Health Technologies
* Jeff Loucks, Executive Director, Deloitte Center for Technology, Media, and Telecommunications
* Geoff Parker, Professor, Dartmouth College MEM and co-author of “Platform Revolution”
* Roy Schoenberg MD MPH, President & Co-CEO, Amwell
* Robert Sepucha, CEO, Cricket HealthMark A. Johnston
* Micky Tripathi, National Coordinator for Health IT, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
* Randall Williams, MD, Digital Care Advisors
Three panel sessions will focus on:
* Investment in digital platform businesses
* Value creation from data
* Consumerism and healthcare platform businesses
Gist Healthcare’s 4-Episode Podcast Series: “Toward a Platform Future”
Gist Healthcare has concluded their 4-Episode podcast series: “Toward a Platform Future”. Kudo’s to organizer and moderator Alexandra Olgin.
Here’s a brief summary and links to each episode:
Randy Williams, Digital Care Advisors, LLC; Vince Kuraitis, Better Health Technologies, LLC
An overview and introduction to the growing popularity of the platform business model in healthcare and the current state of the market. Topics include defining a platform, “platform thinking”, threats and opportunities for incumbents, the rise of virtual care platforms.
Chas Roades and Lisa Bielamowicz, co-founders of Gist Healthcare
Health systems are vertically integrating to create care ecosystems to build consumer loyalty and fend off competition from disruptors.
Derek Streat, CEO, DexCare
The Providence health system spinout is now offering its digital operating system to other health systems to help connect point solutions.
Seth Joseph, Managing Partner, Summit Health
A profile of the poster child for healthcare platform success – Surescripts. Despite the common perception that platform businesses are overnight success stories, he says it’s actually been a slower road for most to gain traction and realize growth.
Chilmark Podcast–Platform Thinking for Healthcare: A Discussion with Vince Kuraitis and Randy Williams
Dr. Randy Williams and I were interviewed by Jody Ranck of Chilmark Research. We discuss platform thinking for healthcare. Chilmark’s article contains a link to the podcast, a summary, and an “AI-generated” transcript.
Here are a few choice quotes from the podcast:
Vince: “EHRs are the poster child for a lack of platform thinking in health care”
Randy: “traditional business models really produce products and services, and they do that through taking the production side, integrating that and ultimately selling and delivering a product or a service to a customer….platform businesses really contrast with these traditional pipeline businesses by unlocking new sources of value both on the creation side of a transaction but also on the consumption side. Their function is really to facilitate matches or to consummate exchanges of goods and services, thereby creating value for all the parties.”
Trend Spotting: Are Local Care Providers Losing the Telehealth Platform Wars?
by Vince Kuraitis, JD and Randall Williams, MD
Two recent surveys shed light on the issue of patient loyalty to local care providers for telehealth visits. While the findings are mixed, local providers should be concerned about how they’re faring in the telehealth platform wars. Let’s take a look at both surveys.
Early Evidence Suggested Patients Preferred Their Own Providers for Telehealth Visits
Early evidence suggesting patient loyalty to their own providers was shown by The COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition Telehealth Impact Study Work Group. Their survey asked about telehealth encounters between March 1, 2020 and January 30, 2021 and included 2,007 respondents.
As shown in the graphic below, the findings demonstrated that a vast majority of telehealth services were taking place with “my own provider” (ranging from 71% for 18-30 year olds to 83% for those 65 or older) or “another provider in my own provider’s practice (ranging from 5 to 8%).
Trend Spotting: Health Systems Unite to Build Collaborative Platforms (Part II)
by Vince Kuraitis, JD and Randall Williams, MD
In Part I, we profiled three recently formed, provider sponsored platforms: Truveta, Xealth, and Graphite Health. These platforms are backed by multiple health systems (ranging from 3 to 20) and have ambitious plans for national expansion.
In Part II, we comment on the “why” — describing market forces leading to provider sponsored collaborative platforms. We then discuss some provider platform challenges.
Trend Spotting: Health Systems Unite to Build Collaborative Platforms (Part I)
by Vince Kuraitis, JD and Randy Williams, MD
At first it might appear that traditional health systems are severely threatened by the new world of digital transformation, Big Tech and Big Retail. But…we’re observing that leading health systems have found a new way — collaborative, provider sponsored platforms.
In Part I we’ll briefly profile three recently formed, provider sponsored platforms: Truveta, Xealth, and Graphite Health.
The scale of these new provider platforms goes beyond anything seen today in local health care markets. Truveta’s providers represent more than 16% of all U.S. patient care. Xealth is available to more than 100,000 physicians. Graphite Health serves more than 30 million patients.
In Part II we’ll comment on the “why” — describing market forces leading to provider sponsored collaborative platforms. We will then characterize some of the challenges faced by these new provider sponsored platforms.
Healthcare Delivery Disrupted? The Rise Of Platforms In Healthcare
by Seth Joseph and Vince Kuraitis
If the taxi industry was so easily disrupted by platform businesses, could the healthcare industry be next? Are there characteristics these two industries share (or distinguish them from each other) that can help us understand the role platforms can play in healthcare? And why does it make sense to ask these questions now?
Seth Joseph and I address these questions in our Forbes article “Healthcare Delivery Disrupted: The Rise of Platforms in Healthcare“.