The founder and CEO of Zocdoc says healthcare needs less outside-in disruption and more inside-out pragmatism.
America spent $4.8 trillion on healthcare In 2023. If that were a nation’s GDP, it would be the third largest on Earth. No wonder everyone—and so many heathtech startups—aims to fix it.
But since my company Zocdoc launched in 2007, I have watched waves of self-appointed “disruptors” enter the healthcare arena like lions only to retreat like lambs. In fact, 90% of healthtech startups have gone bust.
It’s not just the upstarts. Healthcare has also burned Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Walmart. What chance does disruption have in the healthtech sector that defeats David and disgraces Goliath?
But America’s healthcare system needs disruption as costs rise and outcomes decline. Seventy-three percent of American adults say the system is failing them in some way. Without intervention, this will break the bank, our health, or both.
Given the stakes, we must remain bullish on technology’s ability to improve healthcare cost, quality, and access. But instead of blindly adopting “disruptor” playbooks that worked in other consumer sectors, healthtech entrants must study the industry’s past failures. While each has its nuances, there are instructive commonalities and landmines. I have distilled them down to these seven.