With new health apps emerging on a daily basis the market is awash with solutions to help us with fitness, monitoring vital signs, diets, etc, etc. However, are these really solving problems or just another soon to be forgotten fad? Clinician, Management Consultant and (most importantly) patient advocate Mark Duman give us his 10 top (slightly tongue-in-cheek) tips when developing apps, or indeed any solutions for patients…
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/mduman
1. Don’t think you know what the problem and solution is unless you’ve spoken to real people really experiencing the problem(s) you’re looking to solve – it may be jargon, but ‘co-production’ is key; this includes user-testing of everything
2. Have you done proper due diligence? Is there really no one out there that does what you do? It not, is there really a demand for your service? If there is, what’s your value add?
3. Having determined there is a need, what’s your business model? How will this work beyond early adopter/ accelerator/ pilot/ tech funds? Be clear on who the customer is i.e. where is the money?
4. On the topic of funds, look at InnovateUK, big (or little) pharma/ med dev companies, and various accelerators – but don’t give away too much too soon. The NHS Innovation Funds – or whatever they now call them – may help…
5. Don’t waste time talking to lots of NHS policy/ strategy people (unless they can pump prime) – instead find a friendly commissioner and / or provider and do something real with them; clinicians and professional societies can be really advocates as they need your tech wizardry
6. Make sure you measure the service impact before and after your intervention – ideally focus on cash releasing benefits for your proposed customers but also think more widely about others system impact – improved health service utilisation (across the whole health – and social care – economy), better patient experience, improved patient activation, happier (NHS) staff…
7. Get a university to help with the evaluation – then you get some kudos and contacts as well as a proper evaluation (one hopes!) – some for example have pretty good clinicians at associated hospitals
8. Speak to people who’ve done it before and are doing it – the worst they can say is ‘go away’ (or a version thereof); you – and they – may be surprised how a competitor is actually a collaborator
9. Patient groups can provide a useful source of advice and endorsement but beware they’ll be approached all the time ( see 1 )– and most patients are NOT members of patient groups
10. Get good advisors on board – don’t jump at the first big (blue chip) name. Instead have a chat and see if they’re human and helpful not just hubris.
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