Welcome!

Welcome to the first post of Healthcare 2.0, a blog that aims to provide information and commentary on a new generation of companies that could revolutionize the way healthcare services are conceived and provided.

And a revolution is badly needed. Many of the maladies present in most healthcare systems across the World (spiralling costs, poor quality, inequalities in access, lack of customer focus) derive primarily from the inertia that characterizes the behaviour of their participants. Things are done the way they were always done ... period. Paradoxically, an industry that is eager to incorporate new technology (drugs, devices, diagnostic equipment) is also painfully slow to adopt innovation in the way services are organized and provided.

We need healthcare companies that dare to be different. Companies able to challenge the status quo and do things differently than the incumbents or even do entirely different things. It could be firms that make use of the great advancements in medical and information technologies to design new services that respond better to the necessities and preferences of the consumers. Or it could be companies that while using "low technology" are revolutionary in their business models. Either way, their collective influence, if and when they gain traction, may help create a more dynamic sector.

This new wave of healthcare startups (some of them already up and running, most still in the works) will be the focus of this blog, while also profiling initiatives in this direction from traditional, established players.