Innovation For Patient Care | Joshua Liu - GRIT ED. 7 Your Next Move - Magazine - Page 33
Innovation For Patient Care | Joshua Liu
SEAMLESSMD
PATIENT CARE
A PHYSICIAN
TURNED TECH
ENTREPRENEUR.
JOSHUA LIU
CEO & CO-FOUNDER, SEAMLESSMD
Next 36, 2013
In a game of chess, players talk about opening gambits and endgames in a similar way entrepreneurs
talk about seed stages and mature markets. Both chess players and entrepreneurs know the moves
that provide initial success are not always the same ones that will carry you through the end.
“If we can do it once, we can do it again.”
“After another failed customer interview, a
physician off-handedly mentioned we might have
more luck pitching to surgeons, so we gave that a
shot – and wouldn’t you know it, we got far more
interest from surgeons.”
Many hospitals still using print instructions to
guide their patients through procedures or provide
educational materials about treatment options,
the healthcare industry is seeing a steady shift into
digital integration. With SeamlessMD, hospitals can
use digital information to improve their services
and provide patients with the convenience of
accessing care and being monitored by medical
professionals during treatment remotely.
A master chess player knows that it takes time
to place one’s pieces in the proper position with
many unexpected pivots along the way, but overall,
patience is key to a successful endgame. Liu and
his team had been selling to hospitals from Day 1.
Still, due to the longer sales cycles hospitals faced
them with, it took over a year before SeamlessMD
had its first hospital deployment and another full
year before its first patient user.
“Even though we believe hospitals are the right
customer type today, I would’ve started with
lower hanging fruit – work directly with physician
practices where sales cycles are far shorter so we
could iterate the initial product much more quickly
and produce results sooner, which would also then
help us get into hospitals faster.”
A
s the Co-Founder & CEO of SeamlessMD
–
a
digital
patient
engagement
platform that provides hospitals with
the opportunity to engage, monitor and stay
connected with patients across their healthcare
journeys. Although, a solution has grown beyond
their initial idea and into larger-scale support
for leading institutions and hospitals to provide
improved patient care overall.
During Liu’s medical training, he researched
hospital readmissions at the University Health
Network’s Centre for Innovation in Complex
Care and sat on the UHN’s physician advisory
group for follow-up after hospitalization,
exploring innovative ways to keep patients
healthy at home.
When Liu met his Co-Founders, Willie Kwok &
Philip Chen, through the Next 36 program in
2012, their initial focus was in chronic disease
management, but were discouraged to discover
Liu and his team have continuously set their
sights on the bigger goal. Currently facilitating
internal efficiencies, improved communication
and workflow across care teams in North America,
company “firsts” have always had the most
significant impact on Liu and the organization– From
obtaining their first patient-user, first Canadian
hospital customer, first US hospital customer, first
Electronic Health Record integration, all the way
to their first clinical study, proving Seamless MD
reduces readmissions– every milestone is further
showcasing its efforts to positively impact the
North American healthcare system.
The future will bring many hospitals adopting a
Digital Patient Engagement like SeamlessMD and
will become the standard as part of a hospital’s
overall digital transformation strategy.
Seamless MD remains focused on growing its
footprint in the North American market while
accelerating its product roadmap to support every
major healthcare journey a patient could have.
‘‘
Innovation For
there was very little interest from this market.
ADVICE
FROM A
FOUNDER
"Stay focused on your mission,
culture and customers. In a
time when talent can move more
easily than ever before, your best differentiators for
recruitment and retention are going to be your mission
and culture – because that can’t be duplicated. And
remain customer-centric – if you truly create value for
your customers and make them highly successful, to
the point where they are raving about your product to
others, your business will always grow."
The Canadian Institute for Health Information recently estimated that roughly
8.5% of patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days.
Leading Ontario Hospitals That Have Partnered With SeamlessMD To Deliver Safer Surgery During COVID-19:
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GRIT
GRIT
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