Overcoming Barriers to Health Tech Adoption: A Guide to Market Success
In the first installment of this two-part series, we examined the fundamental components of market acceptance in healthcare, including the differences between iterative and novel innovation, value propositions, and the complexity of healthcare use cases. Now, we’ll delve into the challenges that often impede the advancement of health tech products as they transition into broader clinical use. Let’s explore how we can surmount these obstacles.
This article will address common hurdles such as usability issues, gaining stakeholder buy-in, and navigating reimbursement complexities, providing strategies to overcome these barriers and achieve success in the healthcare market.
Focusing on User Experience Design
User experience (UX) design profoundly impacts the adoption and market acceptance of health technology, whether it’s medical devices or digital health solutions. For medical devices, the FDA strongly emphasizes usability to ensure products are both safe and user-friendly in clinical settings. Intuitive devices reduce training time, minimize errors, and enhance patient safety. This principle extends to digital health technologies like mobile apps and telehealth platforms.
UX design is a critical factor in regulatory approval. The FDA’s approval process includes a review of usability studies to ensure that products are functional and user-friendly. Companies that make UX a priority from the outset can streamline their applications, leading to faster clearance and market entry. This is especially important in the rapidly evolving digital health field, where a user-centered design not only meets regulatory standards but also gives companies a competitive edge in driving product acceptance and wider use.
Aligning Design Outputs with Clinical Outcomes
The role of clinical teams in developing medical solutions extends beyond safety. It also includes the gathering of actionable insights based on real-world clinical use and discovering the most effective applications of the technology.
A significant challenge arises from the fact that clinical studies often focus on average outcomes, potentially overlooking the nuances of device performance across different patient types. Without a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms that drive device effectiveness, product teams may struggle to refine technology or translate clinical insights into usable product guidelines. This lack of tech insight not only hinders device optimization but also limits the ability of clinical and product teams to identify the specific patient profiles for whom the device will be most beneficial or contraindicated.
To address these issues, clinical teams should include experts, such as anatomists or basic scientists, who can analyze data beyond averages. Examining the “positive and negative deviants” allows teams to determine the best use-case scenarios and identify situations where alternative treatments may be more appropriate, leading to more robust product design.
This focus on specific patient experiences also aligns with the broader goal of prioritizing treatments that can significantly improve the lives of patients with severe or life-disrupting conditions.
Building Effective Collaboration Between Clinical and Product Teams
The success of health tech product adoption depends heavily on effective collaboration between product and clinical teams. This collaboration must move beyond simple feedback exchange, requiring a shared understanding of each team’s goals and challenges.
To facilitate this, both teams must maintain an ongoing dialogue with carefully structured and actionable feedback. As the product team develops new tools or workflows, they should consistently check back with clinical teams to ensure the product is delivering the expected outcomes. Similarly, clinicians need to be proactive in communicating their needs and challenges, structuring their feedback so that the product team can effectively use it to make improvements.
Though clinical studies often focus on health outcomes, usability and workflow integration are equally important for driving clinical adoption. The feedback process in health tech spans many layers, and product teams may use insights from sales representatives, employ comprehensive data collection methods (such as simulation labs or clinical consultations), run surveys, or conduct formal human factors studies. While questionnaires can provide a high-level procedure overview, immersive observation techniques are most effective in revealing deeper insights about specific healthcare workflows. Such methods allow teams to observe clinicians in their natural environment, validate the product’s value proposition, and identify any potential application issues.
Gaining Stakeholder Buy-In
After establishing a clear product vision and user-centered design, the next important step is to ensure the product has the support of the right people.
For health startup founders, particularly those with clinical backgrounds, sales can be one of the biggest challenges in bringing a product to market. The most difficult part is often getting in front of the key decision-makers. Even with a well-crafted value proposition and positive clinical results, winning over an institution to invest in a new product can be an uphill battle.
Selling to hospitals or large healthcare organizations is a complex process involving multiple levels of decision-making. As one founder put it, “Everything is death by committee,” implying that a single decision can require approval from numerous stakeholders, each with their own concerns and priorities.
Success in this area requires more than a clear value proposition—such as saving time or reducing costs—it also requires resilience and the ability to navigate the complex hierarchies of healthcare institutions.
Overcoming Reimbursement Barriers
In the health tech market, the reimbursement landscape is complex and requires a robust strategy. Gaining distinction in this field may be based on clinical effectiveness or economic advantages, so analyzing the level and quality of evidence from competitor products can shed light on the standards you’ll need to meet.
Hospitals often operate on fixed payment systems and may be hesitant to adopt new products without a strong case for health benefits. Another factor to consider is that if your product is on the higher-cost end, a significant clinical advantage becomes crucial to justify its use.
The correct selection of a predicate product for FDA clearance is also critical. It is highly important to pick a product with comparable price and characteristics. This sets a realistic payment precedent that aligns with your cost structure and product performance.
Finally, when applying for a Q-prefixed HCPCS code from CMS, ensure your product is accurately described; misclassification may limit reimbursement opportunities and diminish perceived value.
Conclusion
To summarize, a proven technology alone doesn’t guarantee a successful product. Companies must prepare to effectively market their products, engage with the right stakeholders, and ensure their solutions seamlessly align with clinical workflows and protocols. Successful adoption of a health tech product requires a combination of clinical research, iterative feedback, strategic pricing, and strong partnerships.
