With Theranos gaining publicity for its mission to revolutionize clinical lab testing, many people are scratching their heads about how it’s being achieved. However, put technological curiosity aside and take note of the compelling customer value proposition that has guided development of its service:
- Easy access for customers via “Wellness Centers” within 5 miles of their home, early, late or during the weekend – a system that leverages existing pharmacy infrastructure and staff to bring healthcare into lower cost settings
- An improved phlebotomy experience with a single draw, a tiny vial of blood for all tests, ordered via a single physician form
- Automation and standardization combined with the ability for repeat testing to eliminate the need and inconvenience of repeat sample donation
- Same day turnaround time, sample to result
- Easy access to and interpretation of test data with longitudinal trends to provide actionable information for patient and physician
- Transparent, low and uniform pricing whether insured or not
Taken together, this describes an incredible improvement in user experience and has the potential not only to unleash the power of clinical lab data, but to disrupt the landscape of laboratory medicine. Rather than questioning how it’s done, it’s better to think of the vision as a yardstick for the industry and a primer for your own developments.
At Continuum, we call this vision the “lighthouse” and it guides how we make decisions on projects.
Write the above list on your whiteboard – what steps could your company take towards this ideal?
Image from Theranos.
About the Author
Mike DunkleyHead of HealthcareMike leads EPAM Continuum’s medical devices business and is inspired by the opportunity to deliver better healthcare experiences. He’s passionate about understanding client needs and translating them into successful collaborations.
Mike joined EPAM Continuum in May of 2012. He has worked in commercial, project management, and technical roles on numerous multi-disciplinary projects within the medical, consumer, and energy sectors. His experience spans initial project orientation through to product commercialization.
Previously, Mike held various upper-management roles at Cambridge Consultants and worked as VP of Engineering at Cambridge-based start-up Pronutria. He earned a BA and Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Cambridge, U.K.
More from Mike Dunkley
