Every leader, business tycoon, entrepreneur, and individual put emphasis on new lifestyle adoption to save humanity from this ongoing health crisis. But when it comes to saving our businesses and startups from COVID-19, it seems we lack the workable and effective ideas to survive post-COVID-19.
Though the nations are connecting all dots to help SMEs and large enterprises, the delayed adoption of new technology, business models, and business methodology at the administrative level of enterprises will cost them huge during post-COVID-19.
However, they can learn many lessons from one industry -healthcare – which is believed to be recession-proof! Healthcare startups flourishing the healthcare industry are experiencing a highest-ever success rate, not because of the COVID-19 situation, but because of the way they operate.
Today, in this blog, I will share 5 lessons every other startup can learn from healthcare startups to survive post-COVID-19.
5 Basic Requirements For Startups To Survive Post-COVID-19 (Inspired By Healthcare Startups)
Regulatory compliance
Regulatory compliance matters the most in the healthcare sector. The federal government and even state governments impose many rules which every healthcare startup should follow.
For instance, PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) is the law imposed by the Canadian federal government whereas PHIPA (Personal Health Information Protection Act) is the law imposed by the Ontario state government. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is one such law for the American healthcare industry.
If healthcare startups operate their business disobeying these laws, they can be liable for a fine up to $500,000. However, all healthcare startups follow these laws and make sure their digital solutions are HIPAA, PHIPA or PIPEDA compliant based on their business terrain.
Regulatory compliance becomes mandatory for almost every industry, especially FinTech and mobility. Entrepreneurs who do not want to fall into a legal battle and waste their already collapsed resources due to COVID-19 should consider all legal norms of the region where they are planning to launch their startup business.
Work with the Government for users
During the initial days, healthcare startups in Canada and the USA faced a major problem due to the refined healthcare system of the countries which enables people to get free healthcare services.
In Ontario, Canada, residents get free healthcare services under OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan). Meaning, healthcare startups cannot ask money or fee from users for digital healthcare services.
To address this challenge, healthcare startups tie-up with the government and add a module into their digital solution to let physicians claim their fees from the government.
You will get the ultimate outcome of your efforts if you work with the government for the betterment of users. Many startups including the startup named Bird which hit the $2 billion valuations in record-breaking time could not reach all potential users as they didn’t choose to work with the government.
Mobile App UI
Generally, startups give a cold shoulder to mobile app UI. But healthcare startups give mobile app UI a top priority and aim to make it simpler and effective.
One of the reasons for centralizing efforts to mobile app UI is the user base. The top user group of almost any healthcare mobile app is the patients or sick people. Considering the fact that sick people do not prefer to spend time understanding the complex UI to complete their tasks, healthcare startups pay extra heed to simplify the mobile app UI.
Healthcare startups even choose their app UI colour very brilliantly. For instance, Blue colour for meditation apps, Green colour for diet apps, Pink colour for women health apps, Yellow colour for apps related to drug price tracker, Red for a medication reminder app.
A user always has a goal for being on your app. Your app should be designed in such a way that it helps users to satisfy any of their goals with only a few clicks. It also matters how users visually feel while using your app! The same applies to websites.
Mobile App Security
Cybercriminals have been causing loss of many millions of dollars to almost all industries. But recently, they have refocused on the healthcare industry and invaded data of many healthcare organizations.
To prevent a data breach, healthcare startups follow the best security practice and follow all government guidelines to better provide data privacy and security. They even precisely integrate EHR (Electronic Health Records) systems with digital solutions as EHR which stores all kinds of patient data is the most preferred target of cybercriminals.
Always prepare for the worst. Never assume that you are not on the radar of hackers. Carry out the technical assessment to find loopholes, hire security experts to prepare a cybersecurity strategy and train your staff to navigate technology safely.
Offload IT burdens
To execute day-to-day business operations effectively, healthcare startups have to manage a complex IT infrastructure. To manage it, they need to hire, train and monitor the resources which are of course time-consuming and costly tasks. It also does not allow healthcare startups to remain fully focused on crucial business operations.
To address this challenge, almost all healthcare startups outsource their most resource-heavy tasks and offload IT burdens from their shoulders. This practice saves their time, costs and makes them able to free up hours to focus more on crucial business operations.
Always focus on the core business operations and outsource other resource-sensitive tasks to get rid of time-consuming and costly staff acquisition, staff training and staff monitoring tasks.
In the Nutshell
Healthcare startups will easily survive post-COVID-19 due to their ability to adapt to new challenges. Every other startup should learn from healthcare startups to survive post-COVID-19.
The following are the top 5 lessons we shared in this blog:
- Avoid falling into legal battle by following all laws
- Work with the government for the betterment of the users
- Do not give cold shoulder to mobile app UI
- Do not create a playground for cybercriminals
- Outsource resource-sensitive tasks
