Trust and Community: The Bedrock of a Thriving Platform Business in Healthcare
In the healthcare industry, where trust is paramount and data sensitivity is high, building and scaling a successful platform business is a challenging endeavor. Unlike other sectors, healthcare platforms must navigate a landscape where trust is the bedrock of the market—chiefly the patient-clinician relationship—and where the stakes are incredibly high—in terms of patient outcomes, clinical decisions and regulatory compliance.
As a means by which healthcare stakeholders interact and exchange value, digital health platforms must cultivate trust and foster a sense of community among their users. This requires robust governance structures that ensure fairness, transparency and quality, while also balancing the varying incentives of diverse stakeholders.
Governance: Establishing Trust and Preserving Community
Governance is the system by which a platform establishes and enforces the “rules of the road”: how it protects users, fosters collaboration, and ensures high quality transactions. For a healthcare platform, governance is not just about enforcing rules; it’s about creating an environment where all users—whether they are patients, providers, developers, or researchers—feel confident that their data is secure, their interactions are meaningful, and their contributions are valued.
At its heart, a network is a digital community that can only function cohesively, and support the betterment of all participants, if there are foundational, shared beliefs, rules and trust.
The 6 Pillars of Strong Platform Governance
To build and maintain trust within a healthcare platform, several principles must be upheld: the pillars of strong platform governance. Below, we discuss in greater detail the 6 key pillars and how they help serve as the foundation of a vibrant, engaged community of users.
The 6 pillars of strong platform governance in healthcare from Building Network Effects-Driven Platforms in Healthcare: A Guidebook for Digital Health Startups (access here).
1. Neutrality: Facilitators, Not Adjudicators
A successful healthcare platform must remain neutral, acting as a facilitator that connects users rather than an adjudicator that imposes its own agenda. This neutrality is crucial for maintaining trust, as it ensures that all users are treated fairly and that the platform does not favor one group over another.
For example, a platform that connects patients with healthcare providers should not prioritize certain providers based on financial incentives or patients based on insurance coverage, but rather include the information so that users can make determinations based on their needs, preferences or feedback of other users in the network. The platform should be the roadways; the users the vehicles upon them.
2. Reciprocity: Value for All Users
In a healthcare platform, value must be realized by all users, though not necessarily in equal measure. Each user brings unique contributions to the platform and expect to receive value in return. This reciprocity is essential for fostering positive network effects, where the value of the platform increases as more users join and interact.
For instance, with Sempre Health’s platform, patients might gain access to cheaper medications, payers might be able to drive greater medication adherence, and pharmaceutical manufacturers might be able access the right patient populations. Ensuring that all users see tangible benefits encourages continued engagement and helps the platform scale.
3. Transparency: Openness and Predictability
Transparency is critical to building trust in a healthcare platform. Users must understand how their data is being used, how decisions are made, and what they can expect from their interactions on the platform. Predictability in operations and decision-making processes helps to alleviate concerns about data privacy and platform fairness. For example, clear policies on data sharing, pricing, and content moderation can help users feel more secure and more likely to engage with the platform.
Healthcare platform leaders share their governance principles and strategies that have allowed them to create and scale trusted networks. Read in-depth interview with other platform founders and investors, such as GoodRx, Sempre Health, Insight Partners and OMERS.
4. Adherence: Compliance with Regulations
In healthcare, compliance with regulations such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is non-negotiable. These regulations are designed to protect patient privacy and ensure the secure handling of health information. A healthcare platform must prioritize regulatory adherence to avoid legal repercussions and maintain user trust. Compliance should be embedded in the platform’s design and operations, ensuring that all user interactions and data exchanges are secure and lawful. By strictly adhering to regulations, platforms demonstrate their commitment to protecting users’ rights and fostering a safe environment for all.
5. Quality: Ensuring Product and Interaction Quality
Quality is a cornerstone of any successful healthcare platform. The platform must not only offer a high-quality product—be it a telemedicine service, an e-prescribing platform, or app marketplace—but also facilitate quality interactions between users. This includes ensuring that the information shared on the platform is accurate, that healthcare providers are vetted, and that patient outcomes are monitored. High-quality interactions lead to better health outcomes, greater user satisfaction, and, ultimately, stronger platform growth.
6. North Star: Navigating by What Matters Most
Every platform must have a "North Star"—the primary group or goal that the platform serves above all others. By keeping the North Star in focus, platforms can make decisions that align with their core mission and prioritize the needs of the most vital users, ensuring long-term success and user trust. For example, a platform might prioritize a feature that enables patients to provide reviews of their doctors, even though some doctors may be opposed to this feature, worried that a few negative reviews could damage their reputation and business. If patients are the “North Star”, supporting transparent reviews will build trust, confidence and interaction quality for that core group.
Building a Network of Engaged, Long-Term Users
The healthcare industry is unique in its complexity, and the varying incentives among stakeholders, the high sensitivity of health data, and the power imbalances between user groups make strong platform governance essential. By adhering to the pillars of neutrality, reciprocity, transparency, regulatory compliance, quality, and a clear North Star, healthcare platforms can build a network of long-term, engaged users who trust the platform and actively contribute to its growth.
Trust and community are not just nice-to-have elements of a healthcare platform; they are the foundation upon which successful, scalable platforms are built. By focusing on robust governance and fostering positive network effects, healthcare platforms can create an environment where users feel safe, valued, and empowered to collaborate, leading to sustained growth and improved health outcomes for all.
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