I have spent many hours noodling on a modern conundrum:

What is really at the core of healthcare’s massive difficulties? And whatever that is, how the heck will it get solved? 

Over what felt like forever, we ran hard at emergency medicine, hoping that a slick and effective workflow solution would help to crack something open. But the industry resists change, and we couldn’t break in, despite our heroic efforts. We also recognized that there was a robust fraternity in ‘status quo,’ and it was going to be very expensive to gain access.

Even if we had, there were other questions that followed:

How much difference could a more optimized emergency department really make? People are streaming into ED’s at escalating rates – and no innovation in ED workflow was going to change that. 

So where is the bleeding heart do-gooder to put their energies?

 

As a snapshot in time, here’s what I’m seeing:

  • Most healthcare systems are beautifully optimized for acute (sick) care events.
  • That’s where the money goes.
It’s thus no small wonder that…
  • Most human beings, whether consciously or unconsciously, associate healthcare with “sick care.” 
It follows that…
  • Human beings are stuck in a “sickcare” paradigm – avoiding “healthcare” until forced. 
  • Innovators, disruptors, and wellness vendors are jockeying for emerging opportunities in chronic disease management.
Naturally, every business needs meaningful focus, and we at QiiQ have definitely chosen chronic disease management as ours. It allows us to keep our previous domain knowledge and IP in play (with a few non-trivial changes in composition). Plus, it’s easy to find motivation to serve in this problem space – we are ALL proximal to chronic disease, in some gut-wrenching way.
As we put a finer point on the specific capabilities and features of the QiiQ Quest Loop, I keep colliding with one persistent concern:
What is it that will really give people with chronic conditions the vehicle for sustained behaviour change?
This is the “rock-in-the-shoe” mystery that frustrates most vendors who seek loyal adoption of a healthcare solution that promises to support behaviour change.  Without that answer, we have no hope of making the impact we really MUST make if we are to gain the confidence of clinicians, patients, partners, investors, and even the payers – who we hope will eventually chase us with a PO for our solution.
That was a long wind-up for my thesis…
  1. Humans are pleasure seekers, luxuriating in a market economy that offers each of us a rapidly growing menu of alternatives for immediate gratification and distraction.
  2. Uncertainly is an epidemic, and we’re increasingly compelled to soothe our anxieties with pleasure. Soothing pleasure is selling!
  3. Despite it’s noble intent, healthcare is reflexively regarded by humans as an “an icky downer” – possessed by all sorts of unpleasant associations and memories.
  4. Even the topic of “healthcare” is a social buzzkill. It can make other people uncomfortable for the same reasons.
  5. Any product or service that’s a “healthcare” product or service is thus stained with that undesirable vibe.
  6. Consequently, we’re not buying “healthcare,” even if NOT buying it leads to more discomfort, anxiety, and desire for pleasure.
It’s not rational; it’s emotional.
Today, the market of “healthcare” apps is proliferating. Read: the number of apps that people don’t really want is growing.
And here’s QiiQ Healthcare – with yet another “healthcare” app.
There’s a great line in Lawrence of Arabia:  “The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.”
We could co-opt that line… “the trick, to adoption, is not knowing that it’s healthcare.”
Summarily: for QiiQ, we must do what we can to hide the “healthcare” in an entertainment experience.