Kaizen Executive Search, Inc.

Seeking Vice President of Strategic Alliances in the Western half of the U.S. for stable and wildly successful healthcare SaaS company. This is an individual contributor role. Ideal candidates will have 10 years plus experience calling on hospital C Suites and will have successfully sold AI driven software solutions. Please apply confidentially, or send an email directly to me at: lissa@kaizenexecutivesearch.com

Is the sun just not as bright these days? If you have talked to me within the past few months, I have probably asked you this question and duly noted your response. I’ll try to unpack some of this below. We are still living in the aftermath of a pandemic. Included in this are long-term effects on patient health, disrupted services, and strained healthcare systems trying to recover and adapt to a post-pandemic reality. Adding to that, the Federal Reserve's monetary policies, such as interest rate adjustments, significantly influence investment behaviors. When the Fed raises rates to combat inflation, borrowing costs rise and slow down capital investments in sectors such as healthcare. We are in times of economic uncertainty. Again, influenced by Fed policies, investors become more cautious and shift their investments towards sectors considered safer or less volatile than healthcare (which is heavily affected by regulatory changes and policy shifts). Upcoming elections have historically influenced healthcare investments and bring uncertainty about future healthcare laws, regulations, and reforms. The healthcare sector is highly regulated so potential changes in policy or regulations can pose significant risks to investors. This regulatory uncertainty tends to increase as elections approach, with different candidates proposing varying healthcare reforms. Switching gears, did you know that UnitedHealth paid ransom in this year's cyberattack at Change Healthcare? There were extensive disruptions in medical claims processing and exposed sensitive patient information, underscoring the critical need for robust security measures. Another massive concern. Can we add in marketing fatigue? Consumers and professionals are tired of being bombarded by relentless sales emails and calls. This breeds disengagement and general weariness, which affects the effectiveness of marketing strategies and the mental well-being of the recipients. It also effects the salespeople themselves. Suddenly lose the fire in your belly? This ties into why. While there is so much more to discuss, it's not surprising that everyone seems depressed. Companies such as BetterHelp, Senseye, Inc., Wysa and Talkspace are all here to help. Despite these challenges, there is a significant opportunity for innovation, resilience, and advocacy for better policies and practices. "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." HK #HealthcareIndustry #EconomicImpact #Cybersecurity #MentalHealthAwareness #HealthcareInnovation

I read two posts today, coincidentally within minutes of each other, about horrific, life changing events that molded and shaped two individuals into who they are today. One, a post by Jonathan Hagedorn, MD whose life was shattered 25 years ago today when he and his family were struck by a train at full speed. The other, a post by a personal friend, who talked about losing both of her parents as a child within months of each other leaving heartbroken relatives to pick up the pieces. Today, both are extremely successful professionals, one an Interventional Pain Physician amongst other things and the other, a very successful entrepreneur. Just yesterday, I had the privilege of attending a Chief session led by Lisa Sun, Founder and CEO of GRAVITAS and Bestselling Author of "GRAVITAS." Lisa shared the powerful message that our life stories ARE our leadership stories. Lisa emphasized that confidence is not just a trait but a choice and a mindset we must cultivate until it becomes a behavior. Lisa's words resonated deeply with me. She said "Dumbo didn't need a feather to fly, the feather just reminded him that he could". In other words, we need to believe in ourselves. If we allow them to, even the most tragic of our past challenges can become the driving force that propels us to reach limitless potential. Happy Friday everyone! #overcomingadversity #strengthFromStruggle #resilience #empowerment #gravitas

What's the latest in virtual healthcare? At the outset of 2023, it was predicted that this year would be one of the most transformative periods yet for digital health. These predictions foresaw a landscape characterized by the ongoing transition to a post-pandemic "new normal", rapid adaptation to emerging technologies, and, the need to navigate an uncertain economic climate. As we find ourselves closing in on 2024, here are a few trends that have undoubtedly come to define digital health in 2023, while also bringing forth the challenges they have introduced for tackling in 2024 and onwards. Challange #1: The Integration of Face-to-Face, Telehealth, and Virtual Healthcare While traditional face-to-face healthcare remains a vital component, and telehealth serves as a valuable means to enhance accessibility, there's a large gap when it comes to providing personalized attention and motivation between scheduled patient visits. Challenge #2 Market saturation. Over the past five years, approximately 14,000 startups specializing in digital health technology have secured funding. Forward-thinking purchasers must possess the ability to navigate through this densely populated marketplace and identify digital health vendors that exhibit enduring presence in the industry, rigorous clinical standards, and scalability. Challange #3 There has been a shifting of focus from Individual Solutions to Comprehensive Care More than a third of Americans grapple with two or more chronic ailments, and over a quarter contend with three or more. To address the complex issue of coexisting health conditions, approximately half of organizations currently juggle between four and nine specialized digital health solutions — programs aimed at managing a single specific ailment — simultaneously. This leads to a state of exhaustion, stemming from the management of multiple vendors. Is this sustainable? Challange #4: Benefits offerings are excessively intricate. Approximately 60% of employers confess to feeling overwhelmed by the intricacies of administering their benefits programs, with larger companies, those exceeding 100 employees, grappling with the greatest challenges. Employees also bear the brunt of navigating numerous specialized solutions, which can result in decreased engagement. Enter Challange #5: GLP-1 Agonists The demand for GLP-1 agonists is overwhelming both health plans and employers. The annual cost of GLP-1s can surpass $10,000 per person, placing considerable financial stress on employers and payers as demand surges. These challenges are all contributing to a reduction in investments in digital health. The question is, are they really challenges or are the opportunities? As funding for digital health stabilizes, experts are saying that 2024 will be a year of survival of the fittest. Excited to see (and willing to place bets on) the ones who will prevail! #digitalhealth #virtualhealth #telehealth #payers #healthplans #benefits #executivesearch

Competition is everything. I remember being 22 years old sitting in a freezing cold sales training meeting in Dallas, a city I had never been to. It was my first "real job", the first day of my career. It felt like there were 300 people in the room, most of whom were more than double my age. As our CEO wrapped up his presentation and began to ask for questions, I tapped my foot on the floor with nervous anticipation. I had the best question ever (I thought). "My name is Lissa Burke and I am your new TM in the San Diego market" I said. "I researched that (inserted the actual name of a competitor, not joking) recently closed a 3M account in my geography. How can we recapture some of the talent that we will essentially lose to them in this market"? I will never forget the silence in the room. "We don't worry about the competition" he said. And that was that. Lesson learned. But, here's the thing. Over the years, I've learned the opposite. Competiton is to be embraced, even when we don't agree. We get inspired from our competition. We get innovation, efficiency and maximized productivity from our competition. We get more strategic thinking, more market growth in general and more diversification from our competition. And, when we strive to be better than our competition, we get healthier and more prosperous business environments overall. So, instead of berating the competition, thank them for being a catalyst of growth. #CompetitionIsEverything #EmbraceCompetition #LearnFromCompetitors #businessgrowth #ContinuousImprovement #kaizen

*EARLY Q4 DIGITAL HEALTH FUNDING RECAP AND ANALYSIS* #RaihanReacts to a flurry of Seed and Series A deals that were announced in the last month. This is a follow-up to my post last week. **Again, this list is not comprehensive, just a sampling of what I'm seeing** Pre-Seed and Seed • Ilant Health: $3M - Value-based holistic treatment provider into plans/employers • Ventricle Health: $8M - Value-based national virtual cardiology care network for heart failure management • Kento: $3M - AI-powered cardiac rehab and disease support Series A • Sage: $15M - Elder care OS selling hardware/SaaS into nursing facilities • Greater Good: $20M - VBC senior primary care leveraging NPs • Waymark Health: $42M - Medicaid tech-enabled holistic care team focusing on risking risk, avoidable ER • Allara: $10M - Virtual PCOS + endometriosis support • Pair Team: $9M - Medicaid virtual/community-based PCP solution and CBO enablement • Heidi Health (Australia): $10M Provider SaaS to minimize administration and documentation burden Later Rounds • Abridge: $30M Series B - Generative AI-powered notetaking for providers • Signos: $20M Series B - AI + CGM for metabolic health and weight loss • Optimize Health: $18M Series B - Enterprise RPM + CCM platform What's Hot and Why • Senior Care Meets Senior Living - 1 in 5 Americans will be 65 by 2030 and people want to either a) age in place to plan their last chapter of life b) live in next-generation facilities powered by new tech/amenities. Seniors (and their family and caregivers) spend more on healthcare than non-seniors and as a % of overall consumer spending, seniors have had the largest rise in the last 20 years compared to any other age group. Providers and health plans are looking to integrate more closely with Senior living facilities (SNFs, ALFs, CCRCs, LTACHs) and get patients out of the hospital quicker to enable at-home care. These 2 mega-trends will only continue for the next decade given our aging population so look to see more investment in senior primary (and specialty care) and selling SaaS and care coordination services into post-acute and senior living entities. • Medicaid - 92M Americans are on Medicaid. More than two-thirds (72%) of all Medicaid beneficiaries received their care through comprehensive risk-based MCOs. These MCOs are run by private health plans who are looking to play ball. Historically there has been little VC investment here. That's changing. From infrastructure to tech-enabled services as seen in Waymark and Pair Team, we're seeing interdisciplinary care teams paired with CHWs or CBOs getting into hard to-reach communities to build trust, manage social and medical needs, and keep highly complex patients out of the hospital. • Value-Based Cardiology Enablement - Heart failure management and post-heart attack, angioplasty, or heart surgery care accounts for some of the highest PMPM spending for health plans. • AI-powered notetaking • Metabolic Health and Obesity

I had a call with a new client today. They are a popular crew amongst recruiting firms with over 300M in funding. They have many open roles. The CEO was willing to chat, although he was on the verge of signing an agreement with a retained search firm. I asked him the same question I ask every time I hear this. Why would you do that? After some back-and-forth banter about the pros and cons of using retained firms or not, he asked me if I wanted him to put us on a retainer for all of his roles. Trick question? Maybe. My answer? No, thank you. To me, it's simple. A solid firm/ recruiter will be able to understand and mimic a client's sense of urgency and quality. They will be well educated on the market, hiring trends, compensation, and technology. They will use a tech stack that targets candidates well outside the boundaries of social media platforms. They will be able to give you impactful, meaningful input and information at any time, day or night, U.S.A. or APAC. They will be likable, authentic, and driven more by proving their worth to you than driven by the fee that follows. And, when you find your own candidate, they will congratulate you. They won't charge you a fee anyway. He said YES, and we couldn't be more excited. 💃 🥂 More to come! #executivesearch #healthtech #medtech #therightthing