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Designing for Wellness: Specializing in Healthcare
Summary
Have you thought about applying your research and design expertise to a specific vertical? Healthcare offers rich, complex challenges and thorny psychology problems, in the midst of a highly regulated industry that desperately needs design experts. Wearables, IoT, AI/ML/LLM, AR, VR, robot nurses, healthcare is anything but boring. Theresa Neil will share a birds-eye view of the healthtech, medtech, femtech ecosystem and where she sees opportunities for practitioners like us. You can start in the shallow end with health & wellness apps and eventually swim with the sharks building regulated medical devices (with lasers)!
Key Insights
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Theresa Neil shifted her consultancy idea from a broad UX practice to specializing in healthcare over the past two years.
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Healthcare technology is growing rapidly with a projected $1.6 trillion market value by 2033 and 20% CAGR.
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Vertical specialization, even by 'faking it till you make it', is a viable strategy but Theresa preferred leveraging her existing healthcare portfolio.
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Healthcare UX challenges are complex, involving multiple stakeholders like patients, providers, payers, and regulators.
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The healthcare ecosystem’s complexity allows specialized UX designers to charge premium rates.
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There are distinct tiers of healthcare products from unregulated wellness apps to highly regulated medical devices requiring knowledge of HIPAA and FDA compliance.
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Hands-on experience with regulated healthcare software and devices is critical; bluffing expertise is easily detected and harmful.
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Designers in healthcare commonly collaborate closely with clinical subject matter experts rather than needing clinical degrees themselves.
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Healthcare technology includes cutting-edge fields such as AI, connected devices, VR, AR, robotics, and innovative drug delivery systems.
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Starting in lower complexity healthcare domains like consumer health websites or wellness apps eases entry before moving into stringent regulated areas.
Notable Quotes
"We were doing all the things until we got the advice to specialize; that moment changed everything."
"We could become healthcare experts because we actually did have a portfolio in healthcare already."
"Experts develop insights by isolating patterns and data; as designers, we already do this daily."
"Healthcare technology is absolutely a growing market with tremendous opportunity."
"Preventative care UX challenges, like why men won’t come in, are deeply rooted and not solved by prettier buttons."
"You aren't going to understand the healthcare ecosystem right off the bat; it’s incredibly complex."
"EMRs and EHRs have terrible user experience and are ripe for design innovation, similar to FinTech years ago."
"Don’t bluff regulated healthcare UX experience; everyone will know, and it’s harmful to your team and clients."
"Designers almost always partner with clinicians who are the domain experts in healthcare projects."
"You don’t need an MD or PhD to be effective in healthcare UX; humility, curiosity, and preparation are essential."
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