So You Want to Work in Digital Health...

Digital HealthCareer Advice
Written By hm

Finding a job, accepting an offer, and getting up to speed on digital health

I have been working in digital health since 2010, but in many ways I still feel like a newcomer. The field is dynamic, continually evolving, and always offering something new to learn. And while I’ve gone deep in some areas (like tech-enabled services, telehealth, public health, and women’s health), I have only skimmed the surface in other areas. That’s what I love about healthcare. There’s room for all of us, and you can focus on a subset of the field that interests you most.  

Whether you're contemplating a career switch or just starting out, consider this a warm welcome to the industry. We need all the talent we can get to solve some pretty big problems. Your unique perspectives and skills are invaluable in this arena that's both expanding and deepening, as we collectively strive to redefine health outcomes worldwide through digital innovation.

This guide covers:

  • What is digital health?

  • Finding a job in digital health - tactics, job boards, recruiters

  • How to do diligence before accepting an offer

  • Get up to speed on digital health - newsletters, reports, and podcasts

What is digital health? 

At its core, digital health (aka healthtech, or whatever you want to call it) represents the intersection of healthcare and technology. But to truly understand it, we need to recognize that it's about far more than the mere application of digital tools to health-related problems.

Think of digital health as a shift in the way we seek health and consume healthcare. It's an evolution from a reactive model, where we treat illnesses, towards a proactive approach, focusing on wellness and prevention. It’s the realization of what Professor Regina E. Herzlinger called for many years ago: a consumer-driven healthcare revolution.

Rock Health, a firm I founded while in business school, has been tracking digital health funding since 2011. They now classify companies on a few dimensions, including value proposition and clinical indication.

Value propositions - the value of the product/service that accrues to the customer, irrespective of the mechanism used to deliver the value - include:

  • On-demand healthcare

  • Consumer health information

  • Clinical decisions support and precision medicine

  • Fitness and wellness

  • R&D catalyst

  • Patient adherence 

  • Nonclinical workflow

  • Treatment of disease

  • Monitoring of disease

  • Care coordination

Clinical indications - the primary therapeutic area the company seeks to address - include:

  • Cardiovascular Disease

  • Dental

  • Dermatology

  • Developmental Disorders

  • Diabetes

  • Gastrointestinal

  • Infectious Disease

  • Mental Health

  • Nephrology

  • Neurology

  • Oncology

  • Ophthalmology

  • Musculoskeletal

  • Pain Management

  • Primary care

  • Pulmonary disorder

  • Rare disease

  • Reproductive and maternal health

  • Sleep

  • Substance Use Disorder

In practical terms, digital health encompasses a wide array of products and services, from tech-enabled healthcare services to big data analytics. But the unifying thread here is improving the iron triangle of healthcare: cost, access, and outcomes. 

Finding a job in digital health

There are a couple of approaches to finding a job in digital health. First, you should identify your preferences and objectives. Consider the type of company you envision yourself working at—think about the size and stage of the company, the specific problem within healthcare they are addressing, and how you see yourself contributing.

Once you have a clearer idea, curate a list of companies that align with these parameters. Do online research, search the news, and ask around. A quick tweet like “What companies (Series B+) are working on mental health?” can go a long way in building that list!

Once you have the list, investigate their mission, culture, and projects. Look at their career pages to see if they have open roles matching your skill set. Even if they are not actively hiring, consider reaching out and expressing your interest. Many companies appreciate proactive interest and might keep you in mind for future openings.

This focused approach not only narrows down the field but also allows you to direct your efforts towards opportunities where you can truly make an impact, driven by your passion and alignment with the company's objectives. This creates a win-win situation for you and your prospective employer.

Job boards

Online job boards are a great way to see what’s out there. Check out LinkedIn, Indeed, AngelList, the Rock Health Job Board, and Behavioral Health Tech, where companies often post open roles.

Using a recruiter

Recruiters have a good understanding of the industry and established networks, which allows them to efficiently match candidates with suitable roles in this specialized field. They're familiar with the skills and experience required for various positions and can offer valuable insights on emerging trends, high-demand roles, and attractive employers within digital health. Since they get paid a percentage of a hired candidate's first year salary, company’s tend to use recruiters for roles that are especially hard to fill. Check out search firms Onboard Health, Daversa, Russell Reynolds Associates, Oxeon, and True.

Let people know you’re looking

A quick email to investors, leaders, and founders in the space can go a long way! Don’t ask for a call, just share a few lines about yourself and what you’re looking for along with a link to your LinkedIn page (or anything else that’s relevant, like GitHub or a personal website). Make it really easy for folks to forward on to friends and colleagues who may be hiring.

How to do diligence before accepting an offer

Performing due diligence before accepting a job offer is an important step to ensure the company is a good fit for your career goals, values, and lifestyle. If you were a friend of mine and we were having coffee to review a job offer, here are some questions I would ask you:

What are employees saying?

Start by investigating the company culture, as this can significantly impact your job satisfaction and work-life balance. Speak to current (and former!) employees about their experiences. You can often gain candid insights into the work environment, leadership, and the company's response to challenges. Websites like Glassdoor can also give you a clue into employee satisfaction.

What is your risk-tolerance and does the risk-profile match?

Every company comes with a degree of risk. Ask pointed questions about the company's financial stability: How much runway does the company have? When do they plan to fundraise next? What is revenue and revenue growth? What’s the plan for profitability? This will help you understand the potential risk and your job security.

Will this actually improve healthcare?
The problem set in healthcare is so enormous, it would be a shame to spend time working on something that actually makes healthcare worse. Take, for instance, a company that once pitched me that wanted to give clinics socioeconomic information on their patients to know which ones are least likely to pay. They claimed they could help clinics make more money by asking specific patients pay up front. No thank you!

What’s the offer? What’s the upside look like?

Ensure you have a complete understanding of your compensation package. This includes not just the salary, but also benefits, potential bonuses, and any stock options. 

If stock options are part of the offer, understand the vesting schedule and exercise price. You’ll also want to request a "fully diluted" view of the company's capitalization. This is a current snapshot of the company's total number of shares, both currently issued and potentially issuable in the future. This will give you a clearer understanding of your potential percentage ownership in the company and the potential economic value of your stock, given the entirety of shares in the picture. 

What’s the worst case scenario?

If the stock ends up worthless, will you have at least enjoyed your time there? Will you have learned new skills that are applicable elsewhere? Will you have been able to pay the bills with your salary? 

Spend some time thinking about the worst case scenario (which hopefully is nothing like Theranos). 

Who are the backers?

Look at the company's investors. This can often, but not always, be a positive signal of the growth potential of the company. A good VC is skilled at picking winners and supporting portfolio companies. Who is backing the company can also tell you the expectations these investors have for the company's growth trajectory. Tech investors tend to be more growth oriented, while healthcare investors tend to understand that sometimes you need to go slow to go fast. 

Get up to speed on digital health

There are a ton of great resources to help you stay afloat of the latest in our industry. Here are my go-to resources:

News and newsletters

  • Rock Weekly: The most popular digital health newsletter for the last decade, includes news and a list of recent funding rounds

  • Stat News: Hands-down the best reporting in healthcare

  • Fierce Healthcare: Excellent healthcare reporting

  • Healthcare Brew: Newsletter to stay up to date on the complex world of healthcare 

  • Second Opinion: Analysis and interviews with founders, executives, investors and operators on the future of health care by Chrissy Farr

  • MobiHealthNews: OG news outlet and newsletter focusing on digital health news

  • Out-Of-Pocket: Makes the business of healthcare easy to understand (good memes!)

  • MedPageToday: Covers medicine, digital health, and health policy

  • CBInsights: A biweekly data-driven newsletter covering digital health tech startups, innovation, and how incumbents are responding

  • Fortune Term Sheet: Not digital-health specific, but helpful resource for latest VC deals

  • Hospitology: Expert analysis on healthcare M&A, strategy, finance, and markets

Digital health reports

  • Rock Health: I’m biased, but I think Rock Health does the best work reporting on trends shaping the future of healthcare

  • McKinsey: Great deep-dives into various topics within healthcare

  • PitchBook: Great work, although too much info is behind a paywall  

  • CBInsights: I like their reports, although again, paywall 

  • Health Populi: Trend-spotter and health economist Jane Sarasohn-Kahn does a great job sharing insights

Healthcare podcasts

Getting a lay of the land

Startups and venture capital

So welcome to digital health - a field that combines the cutting-edge with the compassionate, the analytical with the empathetic. I hope this guide serves as a helpful starting point on your journey. Remember, the healthcare industry needs all the talent it can get, and that includes you. Welcome aboard, and here's to making a difference!

hm
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