Thriving in the Healthcare Market Strategies from an Industry-Insider for Selling Your Product HIMSS Book Series

Interesting, engaging and informative with good examples. As Chief Medical Officer of a biotech startup that has to sell into the C-suite, I will be buying copies for our entire sales team.

Bob Lubitz, MD, MPH, FACHE, MACP

Chief Medical Officer, 3Oe Scientific, Inc.

At 18% of GDP, healthcare represents a hugely attractive market for suppliers and vendors. Any sector this enormous requires support from dozens of entities: legal services organizations, design and construction companies, pharmaceutical suppliers, utilities companies, information technology vendors, food services suppliers, consulting firms, medical equipment manufacturers, and many others. Although many of the standard business dynamics apply to healthcare, numerous quirks make this field unlike any other. Every company offering products to hospitals, physicians or any other healthcare organization will greatly benefit from understanding the industry?s "psychological climate."

Just having a great product or service does not guarantee market success. The seller must know how to position its products and demonstrate genuine value. Industry outsiders selling to healthcare often get sidelined if they don?t know the sector?s unique communication protocols, clinical requirements, financial dynamics, and operating procedures. Even seasoned veterans sometimes stumble over an unexpected speedbump.

This book identifies 84 pitfalls vendors often encounter and provides nearly 200 specific, immediate, and actionable recommendations for minimizing them or even avoiding them altogether. Although this advice will help anyone selling to healthcare organizations, it is especially relevant for companies introducing emerging, disruptive, and transformational technologies.

Acknowledgements. About the Author. Introduction. Chapter 1 - The Jacked-Up World of Healthcare Financing. Chapter 2 - Six Things that Don’t Make Sense. Chapter 3 - Three Ideas to Make Things Better. Chapter 4 - The Six Fronts of the Healthtech Revolution. Chapter 5 - Timing Pitfalls. Chapter 6 - Credibility Pitfalls. Chapter 7 - Product Design Pitfalls. Chapter 8 - Market Misreading Pitfalls. Chapter 9 - Data Pitfalls. Chapter 10 - Technology Pitfalls. Chapter 11 - Communications Pitfalls. Chapter 12 - Return on Investment Pitfalls. Chapter 13 - Other Financial Pitfalls. Chapter 14 - Legal and Regulatory Pitfalls. Chapter 15 - External Political Pitfalls. Chapter 16 - Internal Political Pitfalls. Chapter 17 - Organizational/Operational Pitfalls. Chapter 18 - Final Thoughts.

Glenn Pearson, FACHE is the Founder and Principal of Pearson Health Tech Insights, LLC, a consulting company helping bridge the gap between healthcare executives/providers and technology entrepreneurs/developers/vendors to help maximize the success of disruptive healthcare technologies. Mr. Pearson has served for more than 19 years as Executive Vice President at Georgia Hospital Association where he led the following areas: finance (Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, etc.), data, information technology, emerging technology (mobile health, digital health, telemedicine, etc.), communications, public relations, entrepreneurial services, and vendor relations.

He is board certified in healthcare management and a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), the leading international organization for healthcare executives. He was elected by his peers to serve as the American College of Healthcare Executives Regent for the state of Georgia, and Georgia’s affiliates and members. He was on the founding board of and later chaired the Technology Association of Georgia Health Society. He was also the founding president of what is now Georgia Health Information Network (the statewide HIE) and continues as an Executive Committee member, treasurer and chair of the Financial Sustainability Committee. He has also chaired and/or served on the board of numerous other national, regional and local healthcare and community organizations, including the Association of Healthcare Enterprises, the Allied Association of Hospital Accountants, Southern HIPAA Administrative Regional Process, and the Georgia Association of Healthcare Executives.

Glenn Pearson earned a Master of Health Administration degree from the Ohio State University where he received the Faculty Award for Academic Excellence. He graduated magna cum laude and with honors from the Syracuse University Honors Program and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi interna