Whether you’re a fresh business graduate or a high-level commerce professional, it’s never too early (or too late) to consider the healthcare industry for your next business venture.
And why not?
With every medical sector facing a major, disruptive shift toward the use of newer technologies and toward higher-quality, value-based service, the biggest names in the business are already setting the standard for the latest in healthcare marketplace innovation (take Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway’s joint healthcare venture, Haven, for example).
Following suit is just good sense, and doing so won’t just strengthen you and your enterprise, it’ll also have you applying your business acumen to one of the most expensive (and expansive) problems on today’s global agenda: healthcare.
So I’ll ask again: why should you – with your business and leadership mindset – venture into the healthcare industry?
1. Because (as much as you might not like it) Healthcare is a Business
You don’t have to be a health practitioner to cringe somewhat at the idea of simplifying healthcare down to a “business”. People’s health isn’t a product that we can buy and sell, and yet, that’s how I see the healthcare marketplace operating: a chain of supply and demand.
Thankfully, in today’s day and age, our largest commerce conglomerates are seeing the value in taking a service-oriented, customer-based approach to production; the health industry is just the last on the list to catch up with the trend.
As a result, healthcare providers have started placing a higher emphasis on customer-oriented operational performance, financial management, and pro-solutions development, and are now seeking leaders who are willing to apply these practices in building quality value-based healthcare.
And with more than five percent of hospital CEOs now holding physician titles, and an increasing number of physicians seeking business and leadership training, even the most practiced business leader will find countless like-minded support in applying innovative service and value-based business ideologies in today’s healthcare economy.
2. Because You Love A Good Challenge
Certainly, the global healthcare economy is riddled with complexities that you won’t find anywhere else in business: on the one hand (in the US at least), government spending on healthcare research and development has had a history of heavy funding – in 2003 even coming second to defense R&D spending. On the other, however, is a spotty record of inefficient, supply-driven healthcare that remains at the center of much political and economic debate, with many end-users bearing the weight of a faulty system.
While some may cower from such an environment, I prefer to think of the healthcare industry as the last “unmapped”, open market in business, where there are still plenty of opportunities for “the little guy” to solve problems that the whole world is working on.
Just think about how one might apply the simple business practice of reacting to a community’s demographics to improve customer satisfaction in the context of critical health care. In one industry, that might mean serving a fish burger instead of a beef one, while in healthcare, the practice could result in a larger heart health wing in the local hospital.
Now more than ever, business leaders are finding meaningful fulfillment in using their own business “tool kits” to help (quite literally) save people’s lives.
3. Because Health is Where the Tech Is
Healthcare is arguably one of the most forward-thinking places you can look to build disruptive technology, with physicians becoming more and more open to how tech can help them protect their patients.
It goes without mentioning that innovations in this area are also fairly well-funded, with private sector spending adding tens of billions of dollars to an already weighty budget.
As such, there are innumerable opportunities for business professionals at any level to pursue a future in healthcare technology, regardless of which sector captures their passion.
Whether it be the personalization of advanced medicine, the optimization and expansion of care delivery sites, or the overall maximization of existing funding models, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technologists, and therapists are relying on the help of tech-savvy (and business-savvy) entrepreneurs to assist in improving the overall health of their patients.
On a personal note, I’ve noticed that healthcare technologists and theorists are also leading the charge on AI technology development – providing even more of a draw for business leaders looking to flex their technological muscle, and stay on the cutting edge of digital development.
In short, cross-sector collaborators that bridge the distance between technology, healthcare, and business are the future of healthcare.
And with such great prospects on the horizon, many of those well-schooled in the ways of business are following today’s commerce leaders and finding significant, meaningful opportunities to change the course of the entire healthcare industry, just by applying the innovation principles they already know so well.
So why wouldn’t you consider venturing into the healthcare industry, when there’s so much us business leaders have to gain?
