55 – Where HealthTech Happens
This is a pretty special episode for us here at Talking HealthTech. I don’t have with me here today a guest, it’s just me and you for the next little bit. That’s because I got news so noteworthy, I reckon it deserves it’s own episode. So buckle in, and check it out.
Back in December 2018, so not even 2 years ago, this podcast started to fill a need in the Australian healthtech industry – to have more conversations, to promote collaboration for a more efficient healthcare system and a healthier nation.
We’ve had a number of guests on the show, ranging from entrepreneurs and startups, leading clinicians, investors, software engineers and decision makers, and even members of the Australian health department. The positive response to the show has been beyond what I was expecting, and I’m super grateful for that.
So now it’s time to kick it up a notch.
Over the months we’ve had a lot of people ask us to help connect people in the industry, and that’s super rewarding, and we love that. Rather than doing those on a transaction by transaction basis, we’ve thought long and hard on how to do it in a scalable way.
So we are super pumped to launch our new offering to the industry:
Talking HealthTech is no longer just a podcast, it’s where healthtech happens.
What is the big news?
Talking HealthTech is now a membership community and online directory of all the technical providers making healthtech solutions, healthcare providers using healthtech solutions, and supporting services who are helping make sure those solutions are created, implemented and utilised in an optimal way.
Think, like a “Glassdoor” or a “Trip Advisor”, or a “Compare the Market”, but for healthtech companies, and from the perspective of the Australian healthcare practitioner.
We now have a brand new website, still at talkinghealthtech.com, which features the largest, most comprehensive, and engaging, online directory of healthtech providers, solutions and resources who are servicing Australian healthcare practitioners.
Doesn’t the industry already have healthtech directories?
Kind of. I guess we kind of already had healthtech podcasts when I started this show as well… But I looked for healthtech directories, and I just couldn’t find anything close to what I think we need in this industry today.
Until now, we didn’t have anywhere for all the stakeholders in Australian HealthTech – so the software vendors, device manufacturers, biotech companies, telehealth providers, patient apps, consultants, IT Support companies ALL of these different players – to go to a place, other than those companies own websites, to get an informed view on how those companies stack up against their peers.
Healthtech now has a home. A place to come back to. A point of reference.
Generally, so many of our buying decisions on a day to day now factor in online reviews. We trust online reviews so much more than messaging than the company’s websites.
So the new Talking HealthTech Directory is better than any other online healthtech directory you’ve seen. It’s way more engaging.
But it’s not just about reviews and comparing either – it’s also been created as a lead generation tool for the companies who list themselves on the directory. So, all of these doctors, physios, nurses, the end users of all these solutions; they are searching this directory looking for the right solution for their practice. The site has been optimised to make it super easy for those end users to contact their preferred vendor for more information, or “get matched” to the right provider if they don’t know who they are looking for. When they fill out a get matched form, the lead gets presented to those companies listed under that category.
Our website is really nice to navigate too. Stuff is laid out in a logical way, it’s easy to ger around – hopefully you’ll want to stay on there for a bit, explore the content, and find out more about a particular company, or just peruse it and learn something new in general. We’ve separated it into 3 categories to start, with a number of sub categories under those:
The Categories are Technology Providers, Supporting Services, and Healthcare Providers. The Technology Providers are the companies making solutions. Stuff like software companies, medtech manufacturers and so on that are normally used by physicians, or sometimes patients directly. Then you’ve got the supporting services, so things like virtual practice managers / virtual assistants, marketing companies, recruitment companies, financial institutions, industry associations, software etraineers, IT support companies, event organisers and so on – all the resources and tools as a healthtech vendor you need to lift your product, but also all the supporting tools that a practice needs as well. Then last but not least we have healthcare providers – those are companies delivering healthcare to consumers using a method that’s predominantly powered by technology. I’m thinking mainly telehealth providers offering healthcare to patients via telehealth, (different to the software companies who are creating solutions that are enabling doctors to deliver telehealth, these would be categorised as Technology Providers) . Also in this category are things like medication delivery services, home testing kits – basically all those new ways to deliver healthcare that have been emerging, and now bursting onto the scene in a post COVID world.
What’s also great is that the directory is kept up to date by those listed companies, not by us. That means that the data is going to be more current, more reliable and helpful, because we have the entire industry working on it, not just the Talking HealthTech team keeping it up to date when we have time – I always find when I look at other directories I wonder how current the information actually is, especially if there are no reviews or indicators to say how long ago it was actually created.
We also verify listings as well – so if you see a blue verified tick next to a listing, it means that company has submitted their listing to be verified, and so we’ve checked over it against some criteria. So not only have we’ve said it looks current to us, but it also passes the “sniff test” of being a legitimate organisation offering a product worth exploring. Now, by no means is that a quality guarantee or anything, but it’s something you can hang your hat on when decided on a solution to say – hey, these guys probably aren’t super dodgy if they have the verified stamp on it. So that just gives you some extra confidence when you’re exploring the site.
We also have a pretty neat compare tool on the directory as well, which you won’t find anywhere else. Do you want to see how you stack up against your competitors? OR what about that age old question – you know, compare MedicalDirector and BestPractice, HealthEngine and HotDoc? Cliniko and Coreplus, Epic and Cerner… you know that kind of stuff. So now you can put two, or more actually, of these solutions side by side to then see their information, their rating score, their number of likes they have, what they specialise in, and so on. So go check it out.
What’s cool is if you’re a healthtech company, your solution might already be on the directory ready for you to claim – so even though all the directory listings are managed by those companies, we have created over 300 company profiles on the directory in all different kinds of categories with some basic information already completed, so you can just click a button to claim your listing, and away you go you can keep updating it and build it out and make it pretty. You can change the category and subcategories you’re currently in, or add more, adjust the description or the image whatever.
By the way it’s all free to use too – did I mention that? So companies can list themselves for free, and end users can search solutions for free. As an individual you don’t even need to register an account, you can just start perusing. You do need to create an account to write a review or like a listing though. Companies can choose to pay for a higher level of membership to help make their listing more comprehensive, and there are different tiers of plans available to suit companies of all sizes. It’s all self serve so go check out the join page for more information.
This is a directory you can actually learn from as well – it’s not just phone numbers and website urls, that’s pointless. It has reviews on there from real people, like yourself, who are using these products or engaging with them. Until now the only way you could get a “review” for most digital health companies is ask your network – you might be lucky and have access to a large network, or you might just have a colleague down the road that you ask. There’s no sense or order about it; it’s so subjective. Sure, there is no right or wrong answer on which solution is “better”, but like every decision in life, to make a good decision, you need to be informed. Just asking a mate what they reckon isn’t being informed – it’s helpful, and still do that, but also use our directory as well as part of your buying process for all healthtech solutions.
We also include companies who support the industry – so not just those making solutions like the tech vendors, but also the supporting services, so things like virtual practice managers, digital marketing companies, recruitment firms, financial services, all those companies who either might have a dedicated focus on health but don’t make software or hardware, or they might work in other industries and health is just one of those. Healthtech is one of those terms that gets people all excited about what it means and what it isn’t – and that’s fine, but for us, for me, I just want all the resources that an Australian practitioner needs that relate to technology and healthcare, in one place, so they can get one with running a better practice and delivering better patient outcomes. And that’s what we do.
What is great as well, is the Talking HealthTech directory is managed and run by people who actually care about the healthtech industry in Australia – we’ve worked in it our whole lives, we know what it’s like trying to find this information out yourselves. If I had this resource 5 years ago, my job as a GM of a healthtech company would have been way easier. I’m sure there are many practitioners, investors and others who would appreciate this info as well.
What else is on the new website?
Launching this new site, there is more than a directory on there now too –
The podcast section has been overhauled, should be easier to navigate, more smart tags and categories being built out. We’re also making our show notes more comprehensive on future episodes to make sure you get even more out of those conversations we have with key players in the industry.
Then we have the Glossary; we have been building out all the rich content that comes from the conversations with guests on the podcasts, and that is a continual work in progress. If you need to know what a healthtech term is – look on the Talking HealthTech glossary. If it’s not there, let us know and we will add it. We want the glossary to be an interactive tool that we as industry learn from, and share with each other – again it’s all bringing it back to that collaboration piece, making the information that everyone needs, accessible so we can make better solutions for healthcare providers.
So, like I said, if you’re looking to get listed on the directory – you might already be there, so you should go claim your listing now so you can fill it out. If you’re not, then create a profile, and choose a plan. You can go with the free option and that gives you all the minimum requirements you need to be listed on the website. You can upgrade it to either our lite, basic or professional plans – each plan gives you more to do with your directory. So the Lite plan gives you an extra couple of sub categories to list in – for example if you do both practice management system and online appointments, maybe you want to list in both areas.
We also have a concept of Sub Accounts too – so as a free member, you get the one listing, but lewts say you make a few products – like the company I work at now MetaOptima, we make the MoleScope, and DermEngine. But I also want our company name MetaOptima to be well positioned as well. MetaOptima has invested in a professional plan on Talking HealthTech, as this gives MetaOptima multiple sub accounts to use all for that one membership. We can create up to 5 sub accounts under our main account, so now there is a listing for MetaOptima, DermEngine and MoleScope, all searchable on the directory in their own categories. So if you have multiple offerings, we got you covered there.
How do the company account pricing options work?
The higher the plan you choose, the higher your priority is in search rankings, and in lead matching. So if you’re a free member, you will show up after our paid members on the directory. Also say for example you’re a telehealth provider, and a doctor submits a get matched form to be matched with the best telehealth providers in Australia; our lead match form only sends to the top 5 to avoid everyone getting spammed, so if there are 5 paying members ahead of your free account, they will get presented before the free one. So it’s worth investing that little bit more out of the marketing budget each month to maintain a paid directory listing – besides you’re killing a few birds with one stone, as we have spent a lot of time optimising listings for SEO and making your brand more prominent on search results. We know Google likes lots of backlinks and reliable resources when it comes to presenting brands up in searches, so by listing on the directory you’re probably putting yourself in a much better position when it comes to the google gods in search results.
If you’re a free option, you also can’t reply to reviews and get likes on your profile. You can still get reviews though, but often is much nicer to have the ability to respond to reviews to show how responsive you are and how much you care. Also we find people are more likely to just “like” something because they aren’t in the mood to invest the extra minute to write a quick review – that’s ok, so make sure you’re on a lite listing if you want to add those extra engagement items.
As a special offer to our early adopters – we’re offering a stupid discount that I will probably regret and never do again. For the first 50 members who join, they can use the promo code 50GET50 to get 50% off their listing. That’s huge. So make sure you use the promo code 50GET50 to get 50% off your listing when you sign up for a paid account on the Talking HealthTech directory.
So what’s on the horizon for the Talking HealthTech website, what next? It doesn’t stop here, we already have a bunch of new offerings and initiatives we are working on in the background. We want this to be the most engaging, collaborative and creative tool available to our industry. This isn’t just a website, it’s not just a podcast, it’s where healthtech happens. There are lots of exciting things to come in the months ahead, so jump on board now to be part of the ride.
We also make changes and want to adapt based on what you think as well – so give feedback, tell us what you like, what you don’t like, share it with friends, and write nice things about us so we can continue to grow and offer more things to more people.
So what should you do now?
Search for your company, because it might already be listed! We tried our best with them but some will have incomplete data, or a vague short description, so definitely check it out to see if you’re already on the directory and claim your listing.
If you’re not there, no dramas, it is easy to get listed for free.
If you want to go with a more comprehensive listing, then take a paid account, and remember to use the promo code 50GET50 to get 50% off – but be quick because that offer is limited to the first 50 paid accounts only.
If you don’t have a service to list and you just want to explore all the resources and solutions available in Australia, then jump on now and have a look.
In your day to day – say you’re a GP and you need tech support. Or a billing solution. Or a vision for a way that tech is integrated in your practice. Our members can help. Come to Talking HealthTech, look at reviews, services offered, and reach out to them all on the platform. If that sounds like something you would find handy, or know a doctor who would find it useful, check it out, and share it with your colleagues.
Aussie healthtech now has a common meeting ground. Go check it out now.
Talking HealthTech, where healthtech happens.
