Technology in Healthcare

Your HealthTech startup is not a tech company. And treating it like one will kill it. I’ve seen brilliant founders come from SaaS, fintech, and AI. Only to crash in healthcare. Why? Because they assume healthcare works like other industries. It doesn’t. Here’s what makes HealthTech different: You are selling to institutions, not individuals. Hospitals, insurers, and regulators move slowly. Their decisions are driven by risk, not hype. Trust is everything. In healthcare, one misstep, whether clinical, ethical, or regulatory, can destroy your credibility overnight. Adoption is a long, uphill battle. Clinicians are overworked. Patients are overwhelmed. If your product doesn’t fit seamlessly into existing workflows, it won’t get used. So how do you survive? Act like a healthcare company. Learn the regulations, build trust with providers, and design for safety over speed. Solve a critical problem. “Nice-to-have” solutions don’t last in healthcare. If no one is desperate for your product, rethink your idea. Validate relentlessly. Evidence wins. Clinical studies, peer-reviewed research, and real-world results matter more than press coverage. HealthTech is not a place for fast hacks or growth-at-all-costs mindsets. It’s a place for those who play the long game. P.S.  Building a HealthTech business is easy. Scaling it is hard. I help HealthTech CEOs, Boards and Investors unlock potential, growth and scale.

MIT just cleared 50% of Alzheimer's plaques using 40 Hz sound waves. No drugs. No surgery. Just precisely engineered frequencies making immune cells devour toxic proteins. Frequency is becoming medicine's most powerful tool. Think about that. While we've spent decades failing with Alzheimer's drugs, MIT researchers discovered something extraordinary: exposing brains to 40 Hz gamma frequencies activates microglia—the brain's cleanup crew—to clear amyloid plaques naturally. Mice regained memory. Human trials are showing promise. This isn't alternative medicine. It's FDA-approved precision. Traditional Brain Treatment: ↳ Invasive surgery with months of recovery ↳ Drugs that barely slow decline ↳ Blood-brain barrier blocking 98% of medications ↳ Essential tremor requiring skull opening The Frequency Revolution: ↳ 60% tremor reduction in one ultrasound session ↳ Same-day discharge, no incisions ↳ Drug delivery increased 5-fold to brain tumors ↳ 90+ clinical trials transforming neurology But here's what stopped me cold: Focused ultrasound doesn't destroy tissue—it tunes it. Opening the blood-brain barrier for exactly 4 hours to deliver chemotherapy. Synchronizing neurons at 40 Hz to trigger natural healing. Making Parkinson's tremors vanish while patients stay awake, go home that afternoon. We're not attacking disease anymore. We're conducting it away. What changes everything: ↳ Brain surgery without cutting ↳ Alzheimer's clearing without drugs ↳ Tumors targeted without systemic poison ↳ Healing through harmony, not harm The Multiplication Effect: 1 frequency device = surgery avoided 10 hospitals equipped = tremor wards emptying 100 conditions targeted = non-invasive becomes standard At scale = medicine's violent era ends Stanford uses ultrasound for depression. Johns Hopkins for addiction. Mayo Clinic for brain tumors. Each discovering that precisely tuned frequencies can reprogram biology better than any drug. We spent centuries cutting and poisoning disease. Now we're tuning it out of existence. Because when 40 Hz can clear plaques that billion-dollar drugs couldn't touch, and ultrasound can perform brain surgery without a scalpel, we're not just advancing medicine. We're using medical precision. Follow me, Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld for breakthroughs where physics becomes pharmacy. ♻️ Share if you want other to learn about new possibilities to fight Alzheimer. Resources: Gamma frequency entrainment attenuates amyloid load and modifies microglia" Authors: Li-Huei Tsai et al. NatureDecember 2016 DOI: 10.1038/nature20587. Gamma frequency sensory stimulation in mild probable Alzheimer’s dementia: Phase 2A pilot study" PLOS Biology, November 30, 2022 Evidence that 40Hz gamma stimulation promotes brain health,” Li-Huei Tsai, PLOS Biology, 2025.

We've invested in 35+ health companies in India and these are some observations on what works (and doesn't). If you're a founder building in health and planning to raise funds, these notes are for you. 1) Trust is the only moat in preventive health. In healthcare, people don’t buy products. They buy trust. Preventive health is not an impulse purchase. Unlike sick-care, preventive health requires behavior change, which Indians resist unless they deeply trust the source. So, before you raise money, ask yourself: -Do people trust you enough to pay upfront, or do you need constant marketing? -Is there real evidence that your intervention works—or is it just another diet plan, gadget, or wellness promise? If you don’t have a strong, organic trust loop, raising VC money won’t help. Money can buy ads, but it can’t buy credibility. 2) Distribution is your Intellectual Property. In preventive health, distribution is the product. Without it, you’re just another marketing agency. India is filled with "next-gen" fitness apps, ayurveda solutions, and longevity programs—most fail because they don’t solve the hardest problem: distribution. You should only raise money when: -You have a low-CAC, high-retention acquisition channel—word of mouth, organic virality, or a B2B partner who does the heavy lifting. -You don’t rely on Google/Facebook ads to acquire users. Most preventive health startups mistake marketing for product. 3) Your real product is the outcome. Preventive health isn’t about engagement, it’s about results. Indians don’t pay for health advice—they pay for outcomes. If your model is content-based or habit-driven but lacks measurable outcomes, you will struggle to justify raising any money. Before you raise money, prove: -Measurable outcomes: What % of users improved their health? - Behavior stickiness: How many users are still with you after 6 months? Is this a short-term motivation spike or a lasting habit? -Revenue beyond one-time purchases: Subscription, long-term engagement, or ecosystem lock-in. The worst mistake you can make is optimising for likes, shares, time spent, instead of real-world health results. 4) You should only raise money when you’ve proven at least one of these: Distribution: You’ve hacked a scalable way to acquire patients/customers without burning money on ads. Clinical Efficacy: Your product has regulatory approval, proven clinical outcomes, or strong signals of delivering outcomes.  Network Effects: Your product becomes more valuable as more people use it. 5) In India, you’re not fighting incumbents. You’re fighting inertia. Unlike in the U.S., where insurers or employers drive adoption, in India: -Hospitals are conservative and slow-moving. Selling to them takes years. -Doctors are overworked. Adoption needs to be frictionless. -Consumers pay out of pocket. If you need to educate them, your CAC will kill you. Hope these notes are useful. Good luck to all building in Health in India.

Indian healthcare sees 8,614 attacks per week, making it one of the most attacked sectors. I’ve been in cybersecurity for over 30+ years. But I’ve never seen hospitals being targeted at this scale. Healthcare was once considered a “low priority” target for threat actors. That’s changed. Today, hospitals run on data. Patient records, insurance logs, prescription systems, lab reports, everything is on the computer system right now. It’s no longer just paper files and stethoscopes. It’s full-stack digital infrastructure. And attackers know that better than most CISOs. In late 2024, 7.2 TB of patient data was stolen from the leading healthcare insurance company, Star Health, impacting over 31 million people. It had policy documents, medical histories, tax IDs, lab reports and every single detail or a patient. All public, via Telegram chatbots and leaked web portals. When Reuters tested, they downloaded over 1,500 sample files across claims and medical documents. The reason healthcare is now the softest target? Because the cost of downtime is too high. And the cost of compliance is too low. You can’t afford to shut down hospital systems during an attack. And the penalties for poor security practices? Still far too lenient. That’s the dangerous equation attackers exploit. At Seqrite, we’ve seen a 3x jump in targeted attempts on healthcare setups over the past 18 months alone. And most of them weren’t even zero-days or complex APTs. From basic phishing emails to compromised vendor credentials and public-facing misconfigurations. The same attack playbooks, just aimed where it hurts most. This isn’t a product problem. It’s a mindset problem. If healthcare institutions treat cybersecurity like an IT purchase instead of critical infrastructure protection, these numbers will keep rising. India doesn’t just need better protection tools. We need frameworks, visibility, and accountability, especially for sectors that protect human lives. Have you seen the inside of a healthcare setup's security posture? Was it better or worse than you expected? Seqrite #CyberSecurity #HealthcareSecurity #DataProtection #Ransomware #Infosec #DigitalIndia #DataPrivacy #CyberAwareness #HealthcareIndustry

Bridging the Digital Divide: A New Role for Hospitals in the 21st Century In today’s world, where technology is inextricably linked to every aspect of our lives, the stark reality of the digital divide has never been more pronounced. This divide does not merely separate the tech-savvy from the technophobes; it delineates a chasm between those who have access to critical online health resources and services and those who do not. As we navigate the complexities of healthcare in the digital age, it's clear that hospitals have a unique and potent role to play in bridging this gap. For too long, the digital divide has been a pervasive barrier to equitable healthcare access. It's a divide that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable among us—low-income families, the elderly, and communities of color. These are the same communities that are often hardest hit by health disparities and systemic inequities. The COVID-19 pandemic has only magnified these issues, making it abundantly clear that internet access is not a luxury; it's a lifeline. Hospitals stand at the crossroads of healthcare and technology. They are not just institutions for healing but pivotal community resources with the potential to lead transformative change. Imagine a hospital where every patient, regardless of their socio-economic status, leaves not just with a care plan but with the tools and knowledge to access telehealth services, manage their health records online, and utilize digital platforms for follow-up care. This vision is not only achievable; it's essential. Initiatives to get patients connected can take various forms, from simple measures like providing Wi-Fi access in hospital waiting rooms to more comprehensive strategies like deploying digital navigators—staff members trained to assist patients in setting up and using online health tools. Hospitals can partner with community organizations and leverage existing programs to offer internet access subsidies and distribute devices to those in need. These efforts, while seemingly straightforward, can dramatically alter the healthcare landscape for millions. Moreover, by integrating digital access into patient care, hospitals can also enhance patient engagement, improve adherence to treatment plans, and reduce readmissions. It's a win-win situation where improved patient outcomes go hand in hand with the democratization of healthcare information. While some argue hospitals are overwhelmed, our duty as healthcare providers extends beyond the exam room. Closing the digital divide is part of ensuring patient welfare. From ER to policy advising, one truth stands: healthcare innovation must be inclusive. The digital future of healthcare isn't just an opportunity. Hospitals should be more than healing centers—they're pathways to a connected, empowered society. Access to health services shouldn't depend on zip codes or income. Let's bridge the gap and ensure health is a right for all. #healthcare

🧬 We talk about “health data” as if it’s one thing, but it’s really hundreds of incompatible languages trying (and failing) to talk to each other. Every layer speaks a different dialect: • EHRs: HL7 v2, CDA, FHIR • Claims: X12 837, UB-04, CMS-1500 • Labs: LOINC, SNOMED CT • Devices: DICOM, IEEE 11073 • Genomics: VCF, FASTQ, BAM Each was built for a single purpose, not interoperability. The result? 🚑 A patient’s data is scattered across 40+ systems, each with its own schema, timestamps, and access controls. But things are shifting. Newer models are moving beyond formats to: • Graph-based data structures • Semantic layers • Federated architectures These approaches preserve context, not just content, across systems. FHIR paved the road. But the next frontier is semantic interoperability. That’s not just data exchange; it’s data understanding. 🧠 The future of healthcare intelligence isn’t in collecting more data, it’s in connecting meaning. #HealthTech #DataInteroperability #FHIR #HealthcareAI #KnowledgeGraphs #SemanticWeb

Medical checkups can be mentally and physically stressful for patients. Will it hurt? How long will it take? Then there's the uncertainty before the diagnosis. But simply not going is not an option. That's why we do everything we can to make examinations as comfortable as possible for patients. It starts with the human-centered design of our modalities. Beginning in the development phase, we already take the patient's perspective into account, even working together to find the best solution. We also collaborate closely with the professionals who will be running the device for hours. For these experts, a safe, comfortable, and easy-to-operate workplace is essential. This is what human-centered innovation means to us at Siemens Healthineers: Our innovations are designed for patients and healthcare professionals alike – for everyone, everywhere, sustainably. These individuals are either in a personally sensitive situation – or it’s their job and passion to help others. For both groups, human-centered design is key to strengthening trust and enhancing the human side of healthcare. A solution's impact on a clinical workflow isn't determined by the range of technical functions it offers, but rather by how it provides those functions in an understandable, accessible, and practical way. Take mammography as an example – a particularly sensitive screening that is extremely important in our joint fight against cancer. After all, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer for half of humanity: Every minute, four women worldwide are diagnosed with this disease. Early detection is crucial, which is why the examination must not be daunting. As studies indicate, women with perceived pain or unpleasantness were more likely to avoid future mammograms. For this reason, designing medical devices to create a calming environment and promote a sense of safety for patients plays an important role in healthcare delivery.

7 wearable and sensor innovations pushing health beyond “wellness” tracking this month: 🔘 Sibel Health is developing an AI-enabled wearable that tracks scratching behaviour in people with atopic dermatitis, turning something usually seen as a subjective symptom into a measurable clinical signal that could also support drug development. 🔘 CranioSense is working on a non-invasive approach to measuring intracranial pressure, which today often requires invasive procedures, and if validated could make brain pressure monitoring safer and more continuous in routine clinical care. 🔘 University of Technology Sydney researchers are developing AI-powered sweat sensors that can decode body chemistry in real time, tracking hormones, medication levels and potential early warning signs of disease, potentially offering a non-invasive alternative to some forms of blood testing 🔘 ŌURA rings are being used within Medicare Advantage Plans, with around one-third of eligible members opting in and sharing biometric data, which is already leading to improvements in sleep and light activity and is paving the way for deeper clinical use cases such as hypertension monitoring 🔘 Samsung Electronics is preparing to launch an AI Brain Health tool that uses data from smartphones and wearables, including speech, movement and sleep behaviour, to help detect early signs of dementia while aiming to keep the experience privacy-aware and clinically relevant 🔘 Researchers at the University of Arizona have created a wearable mesh sleeve that monitors gait and subtle movement patterns to identify early signs of frailty in older adults, with the goal of shifting care from reacting after a fall to proactively supporting prevention through continuous remote monitoring 🔘 And China is testing “smart urinals” that analyse urine in real time for markers like glucose and protein, which opens up interesting conversations about passive health screening, consent, and how health data might be gathered in everyday environments. 💬We are steadily moving from episodic health snapshots to passive, continuous and contextual signals across movement, sleep, behaviour and even body chemistry. The technology is getting closer. Now the real work is around validation, governance, reimbursement and making sure the data actually makes a difference in peoples lives 👇 Links to articles in comments #DigitalHealth #Wearables #AI

Telehealth only leads to over-utilization of care. It does not actually replace in-person visits, it only costs us more money. 🤨 Sound right? That concern has shaped the policy conversation for years. It began due to a widely cited study demonstrating DTC telehealth increased total utilization. It became a benchmark for both caution and debate, especially in Medicare policy debates (can read here: https://lnkd.in/erZ4qYXV) Btw, that study was from 2017. Yet we still had that story ingrained and was hard to shake despite some research showing different results. Well in a new study, we have new evidence to may get rid of this belief once and for all. This study analyzed 100% of Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) claims from 2019 to 2024 to assess how telehealth has affected outpatient visit volume. It focused on evaluation and management (E&M) visits across three specialties with different levels of telehealth use: 🔹 Low: Orthopedic surgery 🔹 🔹 Medium: Primary care 🔹 🔹 🔹 High: Behavioral health Here’s what stood out: 1️⃣ Telehealth stabilized: After its initial spike, telehealth found its place. In 2024, it made up 38.4% of behavioral health visits, 6.3% in primary care, and just 1.2% in orthopedics. 2️⃣ More telehealth didn’t mean more visits. Total E&M visits were actually lower in specialties that used telehealth more: 📉 Behavioral health: 4.1% relative decline 📉 Primary care: 7.2% relative decline (Compared to orthopedics as a baseline) 3️⃣ Telehealth was substitutive, *not* additive: This is a key difference. Virtual care mostly replaced in-person visits rather than creating new demand. It met patients where they were without overwhelming the system. 4️⃣ Overall utilization stayed steady: Despite new care models, visit rates held consistent. Telehealth expanded flexibility, but capacity constraints and clinical workflows still shaped how care was delivered. These findings challenge long-held assumptions (I can't believe that it has been 8 years). We now have strong, early data suggesting that broad telehealth adoption doesn’t drive overutilization in Medicare. That’s a meaningful shift. It is time to move beyond outdated fears and into more thoughtful, evidence-based policy. As someone who’s worked in both emergency medicine and telehealth, I’ve seen how virtual care can meet real needs without excess. I hope we continue building systems that reflect that. Not just in theory, but in how we support access, quality, and sustainability in practice. 🧠 Curious to hear your thoughts especially if you're working in policy, digital health, or any corner of the system where these questions come up daily. 🔗 Read the full study here: https://lnkd.in/eyam4jHF Note: this is a preprint so might be more to add post peer review #digitalhealth #telemedicine #telehealth

As a physician-and-patient, I see the medical world from both sides of the white coat. As we celebrate the end of the year, so many healthcare innovations stand out to me-- including 3D printing, AI/machine learning, gene editing, and ... of course telemedicine. With telemedicine, there’s less hassle for our patients’ basic clinic visits – no more travel, parking fees, or staring at walls in waiting rooms. Quality care comes to each person in their living room. But it's not just about convenience. Telemedicine is bridging geographical gaps & bringing essential specialist care to underserved areas. For example, Equum Medical recently partnered with a rural hospital to provide remote nephrology services, making dialysis accessible locally. This means patients can receive their treatments closer to home-- surrounded by their own support network-- without getting transferred out. 🚑 Tele has the potential to ease the burden on patients and their families. It can also help alleviate the strain on hospitals and healthcare workers, esp in areas facing staff shortages. I'm inspired by what's ahead in medicine, telemedicine, and beyond. It means a lot to me, as someone who is on “both sides." What is everyone else looking forward to in 2025? #medtech #womeninmedicine #telemedicine