Newsletter #5: Your health tech questions answered

Earlier this week I had a TikTok pick up a lot of traction, and there are a lot of new faces here. And those new faces had a lot of questions. 

A recurring theme? Health tech is still a very new concept for healthcare professionals and certainly not one that has made its way into the curriculum for students. 

It reminded me a lot of my first viral LinkedIn post that posed this very question. How are we preparing students for the shift that we're seeing in the healthcare industry? And what about those of us that are already out of school? How do we stay on top of these things?

First of all, you've found me and a community of other healthcare professionals who are interested in this very topic. 

Every week this newsletter contains my thoughts on healthcare, technology, and career stuff with some fun thrown in. 

I also have a lot of existing and upcoming resources to help those who are looking to land their first (or next) role in tech. 

So without further ado, I'd like to use this opportunity to answer a bunch of questions that I've had come my way over the past 48 hours from curious healthcare enthusiasts like yourself.

FAQ 1: What is health tech?

Well, this should be easier to answer than it is. There are a lot of terms out there that are thrown around somewhat interchangeably: med tech, health tech, and digital health. Largely, these terms cover the below:

• Telehealth
• Mobile health apps
• Software as a Medical Device (SaaMD)
• Electronic Health Records (EHR) 
• More generally, using hardware or software technology to deliver healthcare services or improve health and wellness

Of note, I don't get into biotech or pharma much because it's not my area of expertise. 

FAQ 2: Are there health tech jobs available for [insert your specialty here: pharmacists, physicians, PAs, RNs, PTs, OTs, optometrists, dentists...]?

The answer is a resounding yes! The good news is that there are tech companies out there trying to solve problems in literally every corner of the healthcare industry. Which means that your skills are needed!

FAQ 3: What types of jobs are available in health tech?

There are so many opportunities. The first and most obvious for those that have a clinical background, is to continue doing clinical work. That's in fact how I got my start in tech (more on that in a moment). This looks like telehealth roles, care coordination, prior authorization reviews, and in many cases it means doing the same day-to-day tasks that you do today in your clinical role just for a company that is focused on technology in healthcare as opposed to only healthcare as a service.

The second route is nonclinical roles. Don't worry! You still very much rely on your clinical knowledge in these types of roles, but you do not directly participate in patient care. These types of roles include customer success, program management, data analytics, and operations management.

If this all sounds like gibberish that's ok for now. It's just new. 

FAQ 4: What do I do and how did I get into it?

I'm the Head of Product at a health tech startup. I'll dive deeper into what that entails at another time because I think this question is really trying to get at the root of how I transitioned from a traditional practice setting to tech. 

The short story? In 2015, I was burned out in my retail pharmacy job. All I wanted to do was counsel patients all day and it felt like the one activity that was not important to the company. 

I began working as a customer experience pharmacist at PillPack, an online pharmacy that packages medications by date and time, doing exactly what I wanted to be doing -- talking to patients! In time I went on to manage this department and then moved into program management before the company was acquired by Amazon in 2018. These role transitions took place because I continued to lean into things that I found interesting and advocate for myself to take on things that I enjoyed doing. 

All along the way I prioritized working closely with people in other areas of the business every chance that I could: UX design, engineering, analytics, etc. Having already built these cross-functional relationships, my transition into product management felt seamless.

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That's it for now. I'll keep collecting questions for another edition of this at some point. But for now, if you're new here: WELCOME! And to everyone else, thanks for your continued support.