Category Archives: Healthcare

The Ethics of AI in Innovation

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The Ethics of AI in Innovation

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) plays a pivotal role in driving innovation. From healthcare and transportation to education and finance, AI’s potential to transform industries is unparalleled. However, with great power comes great responsibility. As we harness the capabilities of AI, we must also grapple with the ethical implications that accompany its use. This article delves into the ethical considerations of AI in innovation and presents two case studies that highlight the challenges and solutions within this dynamic field.

Understanding AI Ethics

AI ethics refers to the moral principles and guidelines that govern the development, deployment, and use of AI technologies. These principles aim to ensure that AI systems are designed and used in ways that are fair, transparent, and accountable. AI ethics also demand that we consider the potential biases in AI algorithms, the impact on employment, privacy concerns, and the long-term societal implications of AI-driven innovations.

Case Study 1: Healthcare AI – The IBM Watson Experience

IBM Watson, a powerful AI platform, made headlines with its potential to revolutionize healthcare. With the ability to analyze vast amounts of medical data and provide treatment recommendations, Watson promised to assist doctors in diagnosing and treating diseases more effectively.

However, the rollout of Watson in healthcare settings raised significant ethical questions. Firstly, there were concerns about the accuracy of the recommendations. Critics pointed out that Watson’s training data could be biased, potentially leading to flawed medical advice. Additionally, the opaque nature of AI decision-making posed challenges in accountability, especially in life-or-death scenarios.

IBM addressed these ethical issues by emphasizing transparency and collaboration with healthcare professionals. They implemented rigorous validation procedures and incorporated feedback from medical practitioners to refine Watson’s algorithms. This approach highlighted the importance of involving domain experts in the development process, ensuring that AI systems align with ethical standards and practical realities.

Case Study 2: Autonomous Vehicles – Google’s Waymo Journey

Waymo, Google’s self-driving car project, embodies the promise of AI in redefining urban transportation. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to enhance road safety and reduce traffic congestion. Nevertheless, they also bring forth ethical dilemmas that warrant careful consideration.

A key ethical challenge is the moral decision-making inherent in self-driving technology. In complex traffic situations, these AI-driven vehicles must make split-second decisions that could result in harm. The “trolley problem”—a classic ethical thought experiment—illustrates the dilemma of choosing between two harmful outcomes. For instance, should a self-driving car prioritize the safety of its passengers over pedestrians?

Waymo addresses these ethical concerns by implementing a robust ethical framework and engaging with stakeholders, including ethicists, regulators, and the general public. By fostering open dialogue, Waymo seeks to balance technical innovation with societal values, ensuring that their AI systems operate ethically and safely.

Principles for Ethical AI Innovation

As we navigate the ethical landscape of AI, several guiding principles can help steer innovation in a responsible direction:

  • Transparency: AI systems should be designed with transparency at their core, enabling users to understand the decision-making processes and underlying data.
  • Fairness: Developers must proactively address biases in AI algorithms to prevent discriminatory outcomes.
  • Accountability: Clear accountability mechanisms should be established to ensure that stakeholders can address any misuse or failure of AI technologies.
  • Collaboration: Cross-disciplinary collaboration involving technologists, ethicists, industry leaders, and policymakers is essential to fostering ethical AI innovation.

Conclusion

The integration of AI into our daily lives and industries presents both immense opportunities and complex ethical challenges. By thoughtfully addressing these ethical concerns, we can unleash the full potential of AI while safeguarding human values and societal well-being. As leaders in AI innovation, we must dedicate ourselves to building systems that are not only groundbreaking but also ethically sound, paving the way for a future where technology serves all of humanity.

In a world driven by AI, ethical innovation is not just an option—it’s a necessity. Through continuous dialogue, collaboration, and adherence to ethical principles, we can ensure that AI becomes a force for positive change, empowering people and societies worldwide.

Extra Extra: Because innovation is all about change, Braden Kelley’s human-centered change methodology and tools are the best way to plan and execute the changes necessary to support your innovation and transformation efforts — all while literally getting everyone all on the same page for change. Find out more about the methodology and tools, including the book Charting Change by following the link. Be sure and download the TEN FREE TOOLS while you’re here.

Image credit: Microsoft CoPilot

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17 Reasons Not to Be a Physician Entrepreneur

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17 Reasons Not to Be a Physician Entrepreneur

GUEST POST from Arlen Meyers, M.D.

Judging by the headlines on their LinkedIn profile and their presence on social media, more and more MD/DOs are innovators, coaches, entrepreneurs and non-clinical consultants. Many are starting or working with biomedical and clinical startups, including a group of medical school graduates, who don’t do a residency or starting their own company.. But:

  • They are not trained to do so
  • Entrepreneurship in the US has been in a downward spiral in the US for the past 40 years.
  • Most startups will fail
  • Most startups don’t have money to pay people
  • There is an innovation bubble.
  • Job security is low
  • You have to deal with people who have entrepreneurial psychopathologies are simply untrustworthy.
  • Students loan burdens are rising
  • Many are not in it for the long run
  • There are unrealistic expectations on both the consultant/employee and employer side.
  • Most MD/MBA programs should be terminated
  • Innovation theater is pervasive.

What is physician entrepreneurship? Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity under volatile, uncertain, complex and ambibuous conditions (VUCA).. The goal of physician entrepreneurs, is to create user defined value through the deployment of innovation using a VAST business model to accomplish the quintuple aim. There are many ways to do that other than creating a company.

Here are some reasons why you should think twice about being a physician entrepreneur:

  1. You are not ready to innovate
  2. You do not have the courage to innovate
  3. You do not have the mindset to innovate
  4. You think that your clinical mindset and your medical degree and training is enough to succeed
  5. You are not in a financial position to take the risk
  6. You are doing it to get away from someone of some job instead of towards something that is a better fit
  7. You do not have a career transition strategy
  8. You or your family are not willing to pay the price of successive failure
  9. You are unwilling to come down off the mountain
  10. It’s not personal
  11. You are not ready to quit your day job
  12. If you decide to create a company, or work for one, making money for the company is not that important to you.
  13. You don’t have the knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies to add value to a business
  14. You don’t have entrepreneurial DNA
  15. You don’t have a big enough network or know how to manage it as part of building your personal brand
  16. You don’t know how to sell things
  17. You are a problem solver, not a problem seeker.

Think twice about telling someone to take your white coat and shove it. You will save yourself and lots of other people heartburn and other people’s time, effort and money.

Image Credit: Pixabay

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Future of Global Physician Entrepreneurship

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Future of Global Physician Entrepreneurship

GUEST POST from Arlen Meyers, M.D.

What’s your definition of entrepreneurship? Here’s the conventional one.

Mine is that physician entrepreneurship is the physician pursuit of opportunity under volatile, uncertain ,complex and ambiguous (VUCA) conditions with the goal of creating user defined value through the deployment of innovation using a VAST business model.

There are many myths about entrepreneurs. Here are some about physician entrepreneurs.

The life science innovation roadmap is risky, expensive and time consuming. To be successful, bioentrepreneurs whether healthcare professionals, scientists, engineers, investors or service providers, need to work as a team with their organizations to overcome the multiple hurdles taking their ideas to the market and patients. The process is neither linear nor predictable and outcomes are never guaranteed. In addition, because of global macroeconomic conditions, investors are unwilling to gamble on unproven technologies in a more hostile regulatory and legal environment. Consequently, commercializing bioscience discoveries is becoming more and more difficult. However, innovators still thrive. Where are some of these exciting business opportunities for bioentrepreneurs?

An initial understanding of the changes happening in international systems is the first step in identifying potential market opportunities. Here are but a few:

  1. Major and continual healthcare policy reforms
  2. Migration away from fee for service payment
  3. Consumerization, commoditization, internationalization, customization and digitization of care.
  4. Changing from a sick care system to a preventive and wellness system
  5. Defined benefit to defined contribution health insurance coverage
  6. Rightsizing the healthcare workforce
  7. Do it yourself medicine (DIY)
  8. Mobile and digical (physical and digital) care delivery models
  9. The growth of employed physicians
  10. Innovation management systems and increasing attention to health entrepreneurship.
  11. Increasing demand for high touch care
  12. Increasing discontinuity of cares changing quickly. All of these changes present biomedical and healthcare entrepreneurs opportunities to create new products, services, models and platforms. Patients are taking more control of funding and contributing to basic and clinical research using the internet and social media continues to play a bigger and bigger role in healthcare marketing and delivery.
  13. Demographic and economic changes and social mobility
  14. Closing the digital divide
  15. The impact of the 4th industrial revolution

Take opportunities in AIntrepreneurship, for example, in India, China, MENA and Africa

The drivers of physician international entrepreneurship include:

  1. Fear: Doctors are afraid they will suffer the professional, personal and economic consequences if they don’t adapt to change
  2. Greed: Physician incomes are threatened by innovation and new business models
  3. Necessity: Most doctors in industrialized countries have a relatively high standard of living. They did not bother themselves with innovation or entrepreneurship because they didn’t have to.
  4. The innovation imperative: The pace of change has accelerated and markets and employers are demanding more with less
  5. Generational demands: Medical students and residents are questioning their career decisions and demanding that schools provide them with the innovation and entrepreneurship education and training knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to thrive after graduation and throughout their careers
  6. The shifting doctor-patient relationship: Technology and DIY medicine is disintermediating doctors and fundamentally altering the doctor-patient relationship
  7. Resources: The internet, local ecosystems, acclerators and access to early stage capital has made it easier to start a business or develop an idea. People are connecting to the global economy.
  8. Portfolio careers: The sick care gig economy is growing and the future of work is changing. Fewer are committing to one lifetime career or job, including clinical medicine
  9. Opportunities: With change, comes opportunities and those few doctors with an entrepreneurial mindset are actively pursuing them. The opportunities in health entrepreneurship are sizable and physician entrepreneurs are increasing well positioned to capitalize on them.
  10. Culture: The culture of medicine is changing and encouraging creativity and innovation
  11. Politics: Access to quality care at an affordable price is in high demand as middle classes grow in developing countries. Not providing it leads to social upheaval and political instability.
  12. Budget deficits: The demand for care is almost infinite. However, the supply is limited. Consequently, policy makers and markets are looking for ways to improve outcomes at a lower cost through the deployment of innovation.
  13. Youth unemployment: Restless unemployed, educated citizens are demanding jobs and ways to use their talents.
  14. Economic development: Innovation and entrepreneurship is fuel that that feeds the engines of economic development in emerging economies. like Africa.
  15. Globalization: People, money and technology go where they are treated best, regardless of location.

The future of physician entrepreneurship is measured by progress in four domains: education, practice, research and impact. Unfortunately, each part of the physician innovation value chain is highly resistant to change and subject to multiple barriers to dissemination and implementation. We have made progress in all, but, the results are unevenly distributed.

The future of international physician entrepreneurship will be punctuated by:

  • The coherence of disparate technologies from diverse industries other than sickcare
  • Increasing transdisciplinary and international dependencies and collaboration
  • Educational reform in health professional, public health, bioengineering and computer science programs
  • Significant regulatory, legal, economic, ethical and societal issues
  • Generational, social and demographic variations in dissemination and implementation
  • An evolving global IT cybernervous system and interoperability
  • More difficult trust, privacy and security barriers
  • A high touch backlash against high tech
  • The rise of patient sickcare entrepreneurship
  • A slow migration to healthcare from sickcare

That said, this is the golden age of physician entrepreneurship, as reflected by the record number of applicants to US medical schools, the number of doctors pursuing non-clinical careers or side gigs, the ever increasing number of biomedical and clinical ecosystems, inclusion of digital health, business of medicine and entrepreneurship education and training in medical and graduate schools and the results and impact of entrepreneurs during the COVID pandemic.

Physician medical practice entrepreneurs, technopreneurs, intrapreneurs, social entrepreneurs, philanthropreneurs, edupreneurs and others are changing the world and the movement is spreading rapidly. Fortunately, despite efforts to the contrary, there is no vaccine to stop it.

Image credit: Unsplash

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We need MD/MBEs not MD/MBAs

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We need MD/MBEs not MD/MBAs

GUEST POST from Arlen Meyers, M.D.

The number of MD/MBAs graduating from medical schools continues to expand with about 5% of the roughly 20,000 US medical student graduates having dual degrees. While in past times the idea was to get the knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies to manage health services organizations, many are now doing it on the way to digital health startup land.

Most all of the 38 osteopathic schools offer dual degree programs as well.

However, MBA programs are dwindling and the ones that are still around are rethinking their value proposition and restructuring their curriculum.

For example, business schools are racing to add concentrations in science, technology, engineering and math to their M.B.A. programs as they try to broaden their appeal to prospective students overseas who want to work in the U.S.

Several schools, including Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, have unveiled STEM-designated master’s in business degrees in recent months. The University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business recently reclassified its entire M.B.A. program as STEM.

But, BMETALS is the new STEM.

In my view, we are training too many MD/MBAs that don’t add value to the system and that many programs should be terminated or restructured.

  1. We don’t know how much value the graduates contribute to the sick care system.
  2. The programs are usually not domain specific. Some think that’s a good thing, encouraging exposure to how other industries have solved generic problems. Others feel sick-care is so unique that the lessons are not applicable.
  3. Medical students are already up their waists in debt, most of which is taxpayer subsidized. Should additional debt be added to their student loans?
  4. Few of the programs address the needs of physician entrepreneurs.
  5. There are many substitutes for physician entrepreneurs around the world and US schools are no longer the mecca.
  6. Content has become generic and offered for free on the Internet.
  7. Connections are easy to make using social media.
  8. The MBA is losing credibility, given the large number of places that offer them, particularly those below the first-tier schools.
  9. Employers can see through the credentials.
  10. Costs continue to escalate and the programs do not accommodate the specific needs of busy clinician students.
  11. We need a thorough conversation about the policy wisdom of encouraging dual degrees, potentially side tracking graduates into non clinical roles when there is a global demand for clinicians.
  12. We need to track outcomes and roles of graduates to determine whether the dual degree adds value to the communities they are designed to serve and whether they are cost-effective in an era of skyrocketing student debt.

In addition, there is a difference between having knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies in the business of medicine, health systems science, health service organization management, leadership and leaderpreneurship and entrepreneurship/intrapreneurship. There is a confusing array of dual degree programs leaving students scratching their heads and, in many instances, wasting their time and money.

Also, more medical students are jumping ship to pursue non-clinical careers. While the numbers may a small portion of the roughly 20,000 first year US medical students, the trend is evident.

Instead, we should consider re-shuffling the deck and offer a new combined MBE (Masters in Bioinnovation and Entrepreneurship) degree or dual MD/MBE or PhD/MBE program.

According to Prof. Varda Liberman, the new Provost of Reichman University and Head of the MBA in Healthcare Innovation, “Healthcare systems are going through enormous changes worldwide and with the COVID-19, these changes were accelerated. There is an immediate need for a complete redesign that will necessitate innovative multidisciplinary solutions, leveraging technology, science, information systems, and national policy. Our MBA program in Healthcare Innovation, offered by Reichman University, in collaboration with Israel’s largest hospital, the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, is designed to prepare the future leaders of the healthcare industry to develop solutions that will enable the needed redesign. The program brings together all the unique advantages of Israeli innovation, to provide our students with the tools and skills necessary to understand the complexity of the healthcare industry today. The program brings together all the key players of the ecosystem – those coming from the healthcare system, engineering, entrepreneurship, AI, law, biomedicine, pharmacology, high tech, investment, management, and public policy”.

Here’s how it would work:

  1. A four-year program combining two years in medical school and two years in an MBE program, patterned similar to Professional Science Masters Programs.
  2. The medical school curriculum would be separate and distinct from that offered to medical students interested in practicing medicine. Among other topics, we would teach sales.
  3. Clinical rotations should start on day one, intended to instill an entrepreneurial mindset and emphasize being a problem seeker, not a problem solver at this stage
  4. Interdisciplinary education with experiential learning in project teams that includes business, science, engineering, law and other health professionals.
  5. Experiential learning and a mandatory internship with local, national or international company in biopharma, medtech or digital health.
  6. A new tuition and funding structure, possibly run by private equity or medical technology companies who sponsor applicants. The present medical education business model won’t work if it depends on short term revenue by putting butts in the seats.
  7. Project teams would be offered proof of concept funding and iCorps team support
  8. Domain experts would work with project teams
  9. Each student would be assigned an entrepreneur mentor throughout the program
  10. Social biomedical entrepreneurship and ethics would be core streams throughout training. Those interested in creating non-profits or going into public service might be candidates for tuition deferral or waiver.

Another alternative is to make medical school 3 years instead of 4 and offer a one year track in biomedical and clinical entrepreneurship.

The good news for educators is that you don’t need to start from scratch. Karolinska beat you to the punch.

The purpose of the degree program is to provide students with the knowledge, skills and abilities they need to lead global biomedical innovation. Here’s what the curriculum would include:

  1. Building Biotechnology: Introduction to biomedical entrepreneurship
  2. Regulatory Affairs and Reimbursement
  3. Life Science Intellectual Property
  4. International (Bio) Business
  5. Biotech law and ethics
  6. Internship
  7. International trip
  8. Device and digital health entrepreneurship
  9. Leading high performance teams
  10. Bioentrepreneurial finance
  11. Drug discovery and development
  12. Care delivery entrepreneurship
  13. Social entrepreneurship
  14. Electives in other aspects of entrepreneurship

The David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah is taking its top 10 ranked program for entrepreneurship to new heights with a master’s degree designed for serious entrepreneurs.

The degree is called the Master of Business Creation (MBC), and it’s the first of its kind.

Applicants must be full-time entrepreneurs who want to create, launch and scale a new business, who want more than the 9-to-5 job, who have the drive to overcome the impossible, who want to build their knowledge while doing, and who are willing to put in the hours to make it happen.

We don’t need more physician administrators. We need more physician innovators and entrepreneurs who can lead us out of our sick care mess and close global health outcome disparities. While I believe the optimal career track involves a reasonable time practicing clinical medicine, students are thinking otherwise. For those that do, they need a new path to creating the future and medical and business educators need to create educational products that meet their needs.

Image credit: Pixabay

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The Gilded Age of SickTech

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The Sicktech Gilded Age

GUEST POST from Arlen Meyers, M.D.

The WSJ reported that Twitter Inc. TWTR 5.66% accepted Elon Musk’s bid to take over the company and go private, a deal that would give the world’s richest person control over the social-media network where he is also among its most influential users.

The $44 billion deal marks the close of a dramatic courtship and a change of heart at Twitter, where many executives and board members initially opposed Mr. Musk’s takeover approach. The deal has polarized Twitter employees, users and regulators over the power tech giants wield in determining the parameters of discourse on the internet and how those companies enforce their rules.

In response, the NYT reminded us that two years ago, the economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman published a statistic that you don’t normally see. It was the share of wealth owned by the richest 0.00001 percent of Americans.

That tiny slice represented only 18 households, Saez and Zucman estimated. Each one had an average net worth of about $66 billion in 2020. Together, the share of national wealth owned by the group had risen by a factor of nearly 10 since 1982.

Wealth inequality in the US is rising with fewer and fewer owning more and more. As digital health consolidates and unicorns become as common as dandelions on your lawn this time of year, should we fear the Sicktech Gilded Age? What are the concerns?

  1. Will these technologies cause more problems than they solve?
  2. With wealth comes power. What will that mean for equitable access?
  3. What will be the impact on the business of medicine?
  4. Will profits precede patient interests more than they are now?
  5. What will be the impact of private equity on medical practice?
  6. How should we educate and train health professionals to work in the Sickcare Gilded Age?
  7. How will sickcare entrepreneurs respond?
  8. What will be the backlash from the sickcare workforce? Labor actions and strikes?
  9. How much more will the prices of sickcare rise as inflation eats away at household spending?
  10. Will technobarons be able to transform sickcare into healthcare?
  11. Will there be a Luddite backlash? The past is prologue.
  12. What will be the impact of sickcare technologies on society?

Or, will there the bubble pop and we will start seeing more “cram downs”? Do you trust sickcare technobarons to do the right thing?

We will have to wait and see whether Mr. Musk can unleash the value of Twitter or whether sickcare barons can do the same. Many other billionaires have failed trying.

Image Credit: Pixabay

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19 Things Physician Entrepreneurs Don’t Get About Sales and Marketing

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19 Things Physician Entrepreneurs Don't Get About Sales and Marketing

GUEST POST from Arlen Meyers, M.D.

Many biomedical and health marketing and sales people ask about tips and techniques on how to sell to doctors. But, very few doctors or physician entrepreneurs have much interest in how to market and sell to patients and other customers. The conventional wisdom goes that they are “too busy” or “don’t have the time” and that they are trained to take care of patients, not take care of business.

I disagree, as I’ve explained in many other posts. However, sales is not in the medical school course catalog.

During a pandemic, that is not an option. Here is what you need to know about digital marketing now.

Here are some social media strategies you should use in the post-pandemic world.

Do you know how to rank #1 on Google?

Ogilvy, one of the most respected marketing firms globally, has recognized this shift by stating that the traditional “4 Ps of Marketing” are out and the 4 Es are in.  

  • Experience is more important than Product
  • Everywhere (Omnichannel) is now Place
  • Exchanges outweigh Price
  • Evangelism is more valuable than Promotion

Here is the job description for a social media manager for Microsoft:

Responsibilities

  • Design and execute a slate of rich social media strategies that resonate with our diverse and global audience and drive its implementation across our key campaign moments.
  • Define social media priorities, set goals and targets, aligning with audience insights. Proactively identify areas of optimization, set best practices, and communicate these across teams.
  • Partner across MSR Labs, Campaign Marketing, Community Engagement, Comms, Editorial, and Web/Media Production to support opportunities for rich scientific storytelling.
  • Serves as a trusted advisor to senior leaders through strong communication and influencing skills.
  • Creates and presents business reports that outline impact driven and provides recommendations based on outcomes.
  • Ability to focus on business priorities and create boundaries to ensure successful project completion.
  • Work with the paid social media team to execute and deliver on overall campaign KPIs.
  • Continuously improve on results by capturing and analyzing the appropriate social data/metrics, insights, and best practices, and then work with marketing managers to execute on those KPIs and leading indicators.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

  • 5+ years of practical experience in a global enterprise social media environment or global agency in the field of social media.
  • Experience in the use of social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, or Club House, etc.).

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s Degree
  • Exceptional formal and colloquial communications skills.
  • Ability to collaborate effectively within a team and across organizational and team boundaries.
  • Ability to manage complex projects in a fast-changing environment.
  • Proven track record for new, innovative approaches, and smart risk taking.
  • Understanding and natural curiosity of evolving social media trends.
  • Experience with tools like Sprinklr, Opal, Excel, and Power BI.
  • Positive attitude, detail and customer oriented along with strong multitasking and organizational acumen.

Here are 10 things docs don’t seem to understand about healthcare sales and marketing:

1. That they are different. Said another way, the marketing team figures out the strategy. The sales team executes the battle plan. Marketing serves the interests of the buyer. Sales serves the interests of the seller.

2. That they are complementary and have to be aligned

3. That the sales plan should not be an afterthought when building the business model canvas or business plan for a new venture.

4. That branding is not sales and marketing and that B2B marketing is different than B2C marketing.

5. That the Internet and social media have revolutionized how they both are done.

6. That service after the sale is just as important as selling the product and that they need to pay attention to the aftermarket.

7. That they don’t need to worry about any of this because they work for someone else who does it or they are busy enough.

8. That they should just outsource sales and marketing to someone else and just see patients.

9. That they can just depend on word or mouth referrals. It used to be docs played golf with their friends, but they now work on Wednesdays .

10. That all they need to do is hang a shingle to be successful because they have been reading about the shortage of doctors.

11. If you are a physician entrepreneur selling to doctors, you will relate to these tips on how to sell to doctors.

12. Every customer segment in sickcare requires a different value proposition, marketing and distribution/sales strategy. The 4Ps can rapidly become the 8, 16 or 24 Ps.

13. They actually believe they are the best and that “there is no competition”. Maybe it’s time for you to step back and create a competitive analysis matrix.

14. AI, changes in social media and VR/AR are rapidly changing how marketers are building their brands, engaging customers and driving sales and lead conversion.

15. There is a big difference between vanity numbers at the top of the funnel or prospect funnel and people who are ready, willing and able to buy (about 3% of the people you contact). Here’s a way to tell the difference

16. The difference and practice of segmentation, targeting and positioning

17. These ten most effective marketing techniques are a diverse group of online and offline strategies. Each technique is most effective when it is working in concert with the others.

18. When to hire a marketer

19. Consultative sales is more about leadership than sales

Most importantly, they don’t understand that branding a service is different from branding a product. That’s, in part, why they are losing patients to non-MDs.

Most entrepreneurs, including doctors, are still stuck in the spray and pray marketing mindset instead of inbound model. The idea is , instead of you finding patients and customers, help them find you.

What’s more, they don’t understand sales operations . The main function of the sales operations team is to smooth the sales process—reduce any friction and incorporate itself to the organization so as to ensure the execution of the sales strategy.

The basic building blocks of medical practice online marketing include building a website, having an search engine optimization (SEO) plan, using social media and managing your online reputation.

Hospital strategy and marketing officers, particularly those who have been recruited from consumer goods and service industries, stare in amazement at board meetings trying to understand why their docs won’t wear the sneakers and compete with the guys down the street. They fail to understand the culture of medical education and the profession that fundamentally places institutional affiliation and engagement way down the totem pole compared to peer acceptance and cooperation.

Another problem occurs when non-sick care entrepreneurs want to hire doctors as advisors, when, in fact, they want them to be salespeople to hospitals and other doctors on commission. The fact is that , in most instances, doctors lack sales knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies to do the job.

The main reason most doctors are not sales and marketing savvy is that they never had to be and they don’t want to be. But, times have changed. Maybe with an attitude adjustment, they’ll be able to get in a quick 18 holes after all.

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Innovative Applications of 5G Technology

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Innovative Applications of 5G Technology

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

In the realm of communication and connectivity, 5G technology stands as a revolutionary advancement that promises to transform industries and enhance daily life in unprecedented ways. With its capabilities of ultra-low latency, increased capacity, and higher speeds, 5G is set to empower a new era in innovation. This article explores the innovative applications of 5G technology through the lens of two compelling case studies that highlight its transformative potential.

1. Smart Cities and Urban Connectivity

5G technology has taken the concept of smart cities from futuristic vision to practical reality. By facilitating seamless connectivity and the integration of thousands of devices, 5G enables urban centers to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the quality of life for residents.

Case Study: Barcelona’s Revolutionized Public Services

Barcelona, Spain, has become a pioneering example of a city leveraging 5G to enhance municipal services. Through strategic partnerships with technology providers, Barcelona implemented 5G-enabled smart lighting systems that automatically adjust based on real-time data of pedestrian movement and ambient light conditions. This has resulted in significant energy savings and reduced carbon emissions.

Moreover, 5G connectivity has enabled the deployment of smart waste management solutions, where bins equipped with sensors communicate their fill levels. This data facilitates optimized waste collection routes, decreasing logistical costs and minimizing the environmental impact.

What sets Barcelona apart is its use of 5G for augmented reality (AR) tourism applications. Visitors can now experience immersive guided tours, where historical data and interactive elements enhance their understanding of cultural landmarks in a dynamic manner. These innovations not only provide immediate economic and ecological benefits but also improve the overall quality of urban life by making the city more efficient and engaging.

2. Transforming Healthcare

In the healthcare sector, 5G’s impact is set to be revolutionary. The technology’s high-speed and reliable connectivity is paving the way for advancements in telemedicine, remote surgery, and patient monitoring, thus democratizing access to high-quality medical care.

Case Study: Remote Surgery in China

In January 2019, the world witnessed a groundbreaking application of 5G in healthcare. Surgeons in China successfully performed the first remote surgery on a patient situated hundreds of kilometers away, enabled by 5G’s ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). Guided meticulously by precise, real-time data, a robotic arm executed the surgical procedure with a human surgeon directing it over a 5G connection.

This milestone demonstrated the potential to extend specialized surgical care to remote areas lacking in advanced medical facilities. Patients in rural or under-served regions could receive critical medical interventions without the need to travel to urban centers, reducing both the cost and the time involved in seeking specialized care. Surgeons can now execute complex procedures with precision, utilizing ultra-high definition video feeds and instantaneous data transfer capabilities afforded by 5G networks.

3. Entertainment and Immersive Experiences

The entertainment industry stands to gain enormously from 5G technology, especially in the realm of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences. These immersive technologies require high data transfer rates and low latency, both of which are forte of 5G.

Case Study: Enhanced Live Events with 5G

The music entertainment company Live Nation has been at the forefront of using 5G to enhance live event experiences. At select events, fans can access 360-degree concert footage from multiple camera angles, create personalized audio mixes, and interact with virtual replicas of performing artists in real-time, all supported by 5G connectivity.

This not only enhances the on-site experience but also opens up new avenues for remote attendees who, regardless of location, can experience concerts as if they were attending in person. This innovative application demonstrates 5G’s potential to revolutionize how we consume and interact with entertainment, paving the way for more personalized and engaging viewer experiences.

4. Future Prospects and Innovations

As 5G networks continue to expand globally, the horizon for innovative applications seems boundless. From advancing the Internet of Things (IoT) to facilitating autonomous transportation systems, 5G is instrumental in catalyzing essential developments across various sectors. By enabling robust and rapid communication between devices, it sets the groundwork for interconnected ecosystems and the seamless flow of data.

Future prospects include the widespread adoption of smart factories empowered by real-time analytics and enhanced automation, fortified by 5G infrastructure. The retail industry is set to witness transformations with tailored interactive shopping experiences facilitated over 5G networks, blending the physical and digital shopping landscapes.

5G technology is not just an incremental step in telecommunications; it is a paradigm shift that stands to dramatically transform society. With its multifaceted applications cutting across various sectors, it is poised to unlock unprecedented levels of innovation, efficiency, and quality of life improvements. These case studies are just the beginning of 5G’s revolutionary journey, and it will be thrilling to watch its evolution in the coming years.

Extra Extra: Futurology is not fortune telling. Futurists use a scientific approach to create their deliverables, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to engage in futurology themselves.

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How to Balance a Culture of Conformity with Creativity in Medicine

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How to Balance a Culture of Conformity with Creativity in Medicine

GUEST POST from Arlen Meyers, M.D.

Medicine, by its nature, is a culture of conformity. We are trained to do no harm, be risk averse, and conform to the standard of care. We follow “best practices” i.e. what everyone else is doing, and are encouraged to follow evidence based guidelines. Medical students are chosen by their ability to score highly on standardized tests and check off the requisite boxes in their application. They know what to say in interviews…over and over again. Physicians have to pass standardized tests to get a license and be board certified to practice and maintain certification.

Now that medicine has become corporatized and more and more doctors in grey flannel suits are working for the man, things have worsened.

Successful innovation and entrepreneurship, on the other hand, encourages a culture of creativity. Now that students, trainees and clinicians are getting more and more interested in physician entrepreneurship and the business of medicine, how do we encourage and balance the two cultures?

  1. Encourage cognitive diversity, not just demographic diversity, in decision making
  2. Don’t penalize failure. Showcase it instead.
  3. Create ambidextrous organizational departments and units that can plan for not just the now, but the next and new as well.
  4. Use evidence based techniques for ideation and creative problem solving. Here are 3 to get you started.
  5. Recruit, hire, develop and promote for creativity
  6. Create psychologically safe spaces to say things
  7. Forget brainstorming
  8. Hire leaderpreneurs who can drive cultural change
  9. Know the difference between good rebels and bad rebels
  10. Don’t confuse disruptive doctors with disruptive doctors
  11. Learn to resolve the conflict between the ethics of medicine and the ethics of business

Sometimes thinking outside of the box will get you in trouble. Other times, not doing so will box you in. You decide.

Image credit: Pixabay

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Three Steps to Digital and AI Transformation

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Three Steps to Digital and AI Transformation

GUEST POST from Arlen Meyers, M.D.

In his book, The Four Steps to the Epiphany, Steve Blank described what has become the gospel of lean startup methodologies: Customer validation, customer discovery, customer creation and company building

The path to sickcare digital transformation is a bit shorter, but certainly no less difficult and plagued by failure: Personal innovation readiness, organizational innovation readiness and digital/AI transformation.

PERSONAL INNOVATION READINESS

Are you prepared to innovate? Here’s what you should know about innovation.

Before you start, prepare yourself with these things:

MINDSET

Starting down the entrepreneurship path means that you will not only have to change your mind about things, more importantly, you will have to change your mindset. Don’t make these rookie mindset mistakes. Here’s what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. There is a difference between a clinical and an entrepreneurial mindset. Innovation starts with the right mindset.

Here is how to cope in a VUCA world.

MOTIVATION

Organizational behavior gurus have been studying how to motivate employees for a very long time. Most have failed.

Indeed, most of your ideas will fail. Consequently, you will need a source of intrinsic motivation to keep you going. Make it personal, but don’t take it personally. Find the right mentors and sponsors to keep you on track and support you when you are down. Create a personal advisory board. Develop these entrepreneurial habits. Practice the power of negative entrepreneurial thinking.

MEANING

Meaning should drive what you are about to do. Practice virtuous entrepreneurship and find your ikigai. Instead of starting with the end in mind, start with the why in mind. Prune. Let go of the banana.

MEANS

Once these attitudes are in place, then focus on building your entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, behaviors and competencies. Take a financial inventory. Start accumulating the physical, human and emotional resources you will need to begin and sustain your journey. In addition to knowledge, you will need resources, networks, mentors, peer support and non-clinical career guidance.

METRICS

What are some standards and metrics you can us to measure your innovation readiness e.g. in the use of artificial intelligence in medicine?

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has released a new report that reflects stakeholder recommendations and opportunities for greater coordination of standardization for artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. The report, “Standardization Empowering AI-Enabled Systems in Healthcare,” reflects feedback from a 2020 ANSI leadership survey and national workshop, and pinpoints foundational principles and potential next steps for ANSI to work with standards developing organizations, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, other government agencies, industry, and other affected stakeholders.

The newly developed Medical Artificial Intelligence Readiness Scale for Medical Students (MAIRS-MS) was found to be valid and reliable tool for evaluation and monitoring of perceived readiness levels of medical students on AI technologies and applications. Medical schools may follow ‘a physician training perspective that is compatible with AI in medicine’ to their curricula by using MAIRS-MS. This scale could be benefitted by medical and health science education institutions as a valuable curriculum development tool with its learner needs assessment and participants’ end-course perceived readiness opportunities.

As an important step to ensure successful integration of AI and avoid unnecessary investments and costly failures, better consideration should be given to: (1) Needs and added-value assessment; (2) Workplace readiness: stakeholder acceptance and engagement; (3) Technology-organization alignment assessment and (4) Business plan: financing and investments. In summary, decision-makers and technology promoters should better address the complexity of AI and understand the systemic challenges raised by its implementation in healthcare organizations and systems.

ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION READINESS

Improvement readiness is not the same as innovation readiness.

Giffford Pinchot, who originated the term “intrapreneur”, has suggested that you rate your organization in several domains to see whether your innovation future looks bright or bleek:

  1. Transmission of vision and strategic intent
  2. Tolerance for risk, failure and mistakes
  3. Support for intrapreneurs
  4. Managers who support innovation
  5. Empowered cross functional teams
  6. Decision making by the doers
  7. Discretionary time to innovate
  8. Attention on the new, not the now
  9. Self- selection
  10. No early hand offs to managers
  11. Internal boundary crossing
  12. Strong organizational culture of support
  13. Focus on customers
  14. Choice of internal suppliers
  15. Measurement of innovation
  16. Transparency and truth
  17. Good treatment of people
  18. Ethical and professional
  19. Swinging for singles, not home runs
  20. Robust external open networks

If you ask a sample of people to rate these in your company on a scale of 1-10, don’t be surprised if the average equals somewhere between 2-4. Few organizations, you see, are truly innovative or have a truly innovative culture. Most don’t even think about how to bridge the now with the new, let alone measure it.

Do a cultural audit. Creating a culture of innovation must include SALT and PRICES

AND

  • Process
  • Recognition
  • Incentives
  • Champions
  • Encouragement
  • Structure

Here is a rubrick that might help get you started

Learn from companies in other industries who transformed. Here are some tips from Levi Strauss.

DIGTAL/AI TRANSFORMATION

Develop and deploy the 6Ps:

  1. Problem seeking
  2. Problem solving
  3. People
  4. Platform/infrastructure
  5. Process/Project management
  6. Performance indicators that meet clinical, operational and business objectives and achieve the quintuple aims.

Here are some sickeare digital transformation tips.

The path to the end of the rainbow is filled with good intentions and lots of shiny new objects. Stay focused, use your moral compass to guide you and follow the yellow brick road.

Image Credit: Pixabay

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Finding the Right Physician Advisor for a Healthcare Startup

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Finding the Right Physician Advisor for a Healthcare Startup

GUEST POST from Arlen Meyers

It has never been easier to create a sickcare startup, particularly in digital health. Part of that process requires that founders find the right players to be on the team. In many instances, that will involve finding physician advisors or consultants.

But, how do you find the right physician advisors?

Here are some tips:

  1. Clearly define the optimal candidate by writing a job description that includes the knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies you want. Are you looking for someone with an entrepreneurial mindset or someone with just domain expertise? One expert suggests that they should be able to communicate a deep understanding of their domain effectively and understand the context of both their organizations and those they work with. Moreover, emotional competence is essential to developing strong interpersonal skills and succeeding in any workplace. Professionals should also strive to be effective teachers and build a large network of human connections. Finally, possessing an ethical compass will be important as algorithm-driven machines begin to make morally weighted decisions.

  2. Look for past experience and results

  3. Decide how much and what kind of compensation you are prepared to offer, either in cash, equity or both

  4. Make it clear how long you want to engage your advisor. Is it for one hour or one year or more? Or, maybe it’s best to try before you buy and hire for a renewable three-month term.

  5. Clearly define your expectations, deliverables and timelines and how you will measure the results. What roles, holes and goals do you want your advisor to fill?

  6. Solicit candidates using networks, social media channels, word of mouth referrals or responses to a call to action on your website or other marketing collateral

  7. Screen candidates using the criteria you have defined

  8. Decide whether you want someone to fill a business or clinical advisory position. Finding a clinical business advisor is difficult since few doctors or other healthcare professionals have both a clinical and entrepreneurial mindset and the knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies to help you achieve your next critical success endpoints.

  9. Agree on whether you are hiring for periodic strategic input or more tactical, hands-on execution.

  10. Interview candidates to see if they comply with your requirements and whether they are the right fit

  11. Negotiate an agreement

  12. Execute an advisory services agreement that defines the terms and conditions of the relationship

Finding the right physician advisors is an important part of recruiting your startup team. Don’t hire someone simply because of the initials after their name.

Image credits: Pixabay

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