Digital health startups can incorporate clinical expertise into business models.

Early signs show Funding for digital health startups has decreased significantly in Q4 2022, close to levels seen at the end of 2019.

But the dollar amount doesn’t tell the whole story. How you grow as a digital healthcare company is important if so You will never grow up.

A long-established company should always have clinical experts as part of its management to ensure that care is always based on the patient’s medical needs and to maintain quality control.

Here’s a framework for digital health startups to consider:

Bring the clinics to senior management

The best scenario for a digital health startup is to bring in a clinician as a co-founder.

I speak from experience. My co-founder is a triple-board certified psychiatrist who brings clinical expertise to everything he does. From reviewing product roadmap decisions from our technology department to strategy discussions at board meetings and managing our entire clinical team, her contributions are critical to the company’s health and direction.

Outside of the C-suite, hiring clinicians as senior leaders with responsibilities beyond clinical practice is invaluable. The key is to make sure clinicians know they are reporting to another clinician, not a non-clinical executive.

Non-clinical leaders, including founders and non-clinical C-suite executives, must practice what they preach. They must constantly turn to their clinical partners for business discussions, even if they do not have an obvious clinical impact.

The main advantages of taking this method include:

• Clinical and non-clinical partnerships are more active than jumping;
• Other team members and clinical staff see and respect inclusion;
• Clinicians may demonstrate indirect but important clinical implications.

Beyond hiring in-house clinicians, startups should consider inviting clinicians to join their board of directors. Their presence on the board helps make a company an ethical and sustainable medical practice focused on helping patients rather than a technology company operating at the expense of patients.

This dedication to patient outcomes makes a difference and should be reflected in every digital health initiative.

Respect the commitment of suppliers

Allocating resources and space to full-time providers allows them to focus more on patient care—the reason they got into medicine.