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Healthcare market entry - Thinking about entering or investing in the US healthcare market?

Even great ideas with plenty of funding struggle to create sustainable value. Talk to us first.


The US healthcare market is undeniably an attractive market for investment and rightfully is seen as a huge opportunity for growth:

  • $3.5 trillion market in 2017, projected to grow to $6 trillion by 2028.

  • Clear opportunities for improvement - Highest spend per capital in the world, with similar or worse outcomes compared to other developed nations. 

  • Friendly to Private Enterprise - Compared to other nations, the US healthcare systems emphasizes the role of non-government entities, creating an environment amenable to innovation.

But the market is also a labyrinth of confusing contracts and conflicting incentives.  It's no surprise that many new entrants invest millions pursuing opportunities that are outwardly promising, but fail once confronted with the challenges of building a successful business model in this environment.


Consider the following examples of companies with great solutions, significant funding, and big-name healthcare partners and customers, who shut down in 2018:

  • Driver, a firm whose goal was to connect cancer patients with treatments and clinical trials, shut down operations and laid off its 85+ employees. Though it had a network of more than 30 of the world’s largest cancer hospitals and the financial backing of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka Shing’s Horizon Ventures, its direct-to-consumer model didn’t pay off. 

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  • Lantern, a San Francisco-based mental health startup founded in 2013, folded commercial operations effective August 1. Its app allowed users to complete a self-evaluation assessment. It then provided daily exercises, which helped people pinpoint and restructure negative thoughts. A post on Lantern’s site read: “After some trial and error in the direct to consumer and employer spaces, we ultimately pursued a strategy of alignment with traditional healthcare insurance companies. Healthcare moves very slowly and we made the mistake of misjudging the time it would take to achieve sustainable revenue through this approach.”

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  • CloudMine, which offered the ability to build digital apps through a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based healthcare platform solution, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in November 2018. Founded in 2011, it aimed to help providers, pharma companies, payers and others develop and manage digital health applications. The startup, which garnered customers such as Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, had a slew of investors including Safeguard Scientifics, Dreamit Ventures, and Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

Our pre-due diligence advisory service can help you short-circuit the complexity in the healthcare value chain, and massively accelerate a market entry or investment process.  With decades of experience consulting to and working inside Payers, Providers, Pharma, GPO, and MedTech, we provide clients with:

  • Insider View: An unvarnished view of drivers of the market. Why the incumbents behave the way they do &  what motivates them

  • Answers: A safe space to ask all the questions that are confusing and conflicting about how healthcare works in the US

  • Reality Check: A means to identify "vaporware" - how to separate fact from fiction when evaluating investments

  • Pressure Testing: An experienced group of healthcare professionals who can conduct an initial "pressure-test" of your hypotheses

We have worked with global IT Services companies to Silicon Valley Start-ups to give them a head start in capturing a piece of this growing market. We are one of the few consulting firms that has truly unique insight driven by years of experience, both inside and selling to all segments of healthcare companies:

Insider's View:

  • VP and Director-level leadership, finance and operating roles within health insurance, Provider, Pharma and MedTech companies.

  • Client decision maker and budget owner for over $100M of procured products and services.

  • Reviewed product and sales pitches from over 50 vendors, ranging from health service start-ups to global solutions companies. 

  • Evaluation committee member for initiatives amounting to over $400M in annual spend.

  • Purchaser of $1.4B Medical portfolio.

  • Readily accessible personal network of current and former healthcare CEOs, CFOs, Actuaries, Operations VPs and Sales leaders.

Demonstrated success in selling to Healthcare customers:

  • Direct selling experience closing over $1.5B of technology and consulting services to Healthcare companies.

  • Delivered over 30 winning proposals to Payers (e.g., Aetna, Cigna, HCSC, Anthem, Independence Blue Cross), Provider (e.g., Sutter Health, UC System, Mayo Clinic, UT System), Pharma (e.g., Amgen, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genetech, Celgene), and more. 

Let us help you. Contact us today at info@fqadvisory.com

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