The traps to avoid when setting up a digital healthcare business

The question then became how to use technology to support the nurses. The biggest gap that we identified was clinical knowledge. Within our community, we have an army of nurses but they can have difficulties diagnosing an illness properly, especially chronic conditions and the complications that go along with them. They need a specialist.  

The solution we developed was a digital healthcare platform called Abeocare that digitalized healthcare processes and engagement practices. Once this was up and running, we established the nurse-led Alma Clinics.  

There are now five Alma Clinics in South Africa – three in Soweto, one in Pimville, and one in Katlehong.  

Here are five lessons I have learned about setting up a digitally focused healthcare business.  

1. Keep a close eye on costs 

Healthcare can be an expensive business because you need buildings in which to see patients, and rents can be high if you don’t own a building. In addition, medical professionals’ salaries and the cost of medications account for large chunks of your operating expenses. To keep costs low, we focus on technology and hire nurses who have some experience but are young enough and open enough to effectively work with the technology we have developed.  

2. Maintain control of the rights 

I wish someone had taken me through the lessons of how ownership works when you build digital assets. I have a brick-and-mortar business background and understand the risks that exist there. But if you don’t have a tech background, you need to ask the question of who owns the intellectual property because it is often not documented properly. For us, the so-called title deeds remained with the developers. Until they held me to ransom for payment, it had never occurred to me.  

3. Make your product accessible 

When we think about low-income people, we rarely think of convenience. We think they just need affordable services or products. My daughter could not comprehend that when I was a child, I had to walk up to five kilometers to see a doctor. My goal in creating Alma Clinics was to make sure they were located closer to where people live and work. We decided to take healthcare into the consumer market and go to the shopping centers. To do that we signed a deal with Shoprite, South Africa’s largest retailer, to establish our clinics there.