BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Posts Tagged ‘Healthcare’
January 26 2012
by Scott Johnson
No Better Time, Ever, To Be An Entrepreneur
I am often asked “what is new and exciting” by pretty much anyone that knows what I do for a living. And it is a great question that I relish answering – usually. Of late, however, I have been responding in a way that needs polish. I will say “smartphones” or “Health IT” or “the ...
January 11 2012
by Todd Hixon
The High Stakes Games Around Generic Lipitor
Last month Lipitor became a generic drug. Get used to saying “atorvastatin”, the generic name; it will be worth the effort. Lipitor is the greatest drug in history: $130 billion of cumulative revenue for Pfizer, and control of high cholesterol with minimal side effects for millions (currently 3 million in the U.S.). And, Lipitor is ...
December 7 2011
by Todd Hixon
Consumer Driven Healthcare Proponents Finally Proven Wrong — NOT!
I’m commenting on a blog post by fellow Forbes.com contributor Rick Ungar: Consumer Driven Health Care Proponents Finally Proven Wrong. I am an advocate of consumer-driven health care, and I don’t agree with his conclusion. Rick cites the example of Grand Junction, Colorado, a community that has achieved low health care costs (Medicare spend about ...
September 27 2011
by Todd Hixon
What the Political Crisis Means For Entrepreneurs
The recent downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt, and the ongoing debt crisis in Europe stem from a century-in-the-making political crisis, which is creating big economic uncertainty: inability to borrow could throw major countries into recession, and interest rates, tax rates, and government spending will see major change that is hard to predict. The crisis will ...
June 17 2011
by Todd Hixon
Customer-Driven Health Care
We’ve made several health care related investments recently: Qliance, Healthwarehouse, and Truveris. Customer-driven health care is the theme that unifies them. When customers (individuals and health plan payers) take charge, things change in good and important ways. And customers are taking charge because the cost of health care has become unaffordable for everyone, even the ...
April 19 2011
by Todd Hixon
How Entrepreneurs Can Help Fix Health Care
I’ve long thought that health care entrepreneurship was about finding new and better treatments for disease. Most innovations offer new therapies or diagnostics, often at very high price points: e.g., drug-eluting coronary artery stents and erythropoietin (EPO), a bio-pharmaceutical that promotes blood cell production, were expensive, breakthrough capabilities that became major businesses. There is another ...
January 24 2011
by John Backus
What’s your Rx for Health Care?
While we watch legislators attempt to repeal health care reform, I though it was about time I express my personal frustrations with the system, make some suggestions, and start a productive discussion about big opportunities for entrepreneurs. On Tuesday January 25, 2011 President Obama will give his State of the Union address and will no ...
January 18 2011
by Todd Hixon
Honey Pots Wanted
We’ve made three investments in the business side of health care. We’re not a health care fund, not expert in treating disease or handicapping the odds of of new drug approval (except to say that they seem very poor). But we understand how new competitors using methods like eCommerce, software as a service, and new ...
March 13 2010
by John Backus
Health Care Reform: Common Sense Solutions
Health Care Reform is topical. But it need not cost an arm and a leg to do. Because I sit on the Board of Directors of NAV portfolio company Qliance, an innovative “Direct Practice” primary care solution that operates completely outside of the insurance system, I am often asked to comment on things that we ...
July 16 2009
by John Backus
Where is the REFORM in all of the “Health Care Reform” bills being Debated in Congress?
I have a problem with the health care reform bills being bantied about these days on Capital Hill. Actually I have a few problems. My problem with all of the “health care reform” proposals is that they don’t reform anything! What do I mean by that? Let me count the ways: 1. There is no ...
