Episode 16: "Restoring the Sick Healthcare System"| Priyanka Mathur, MediPocket

“As a healthcare provider sometimes, we get a little intimidated that artificial intelligence will replace
doctors. It’s not going to replace them, it’s going to augment them, help them with a data-driven
model to get a more precisive and accurate treatment model.”
Who is she and what is she doing in the health tech field? [1:53]
She was born in India and attended medical school in Russia and later went back to India to practice as a
physician for a few years before heading to the US. Her passion in healthcare began when she was
young. Her experience with patients in all three countries was the fact that the patients always seemed
lost, confused, and the process is expensive. She wanted to use technology to simplify the system for
the patient to make them more informed and involved in their care.
How was the process of making Medipocket from a concept to an actual tangible company? [3:57]
Her ability to see the problem as a doctor was there, but it was hard to point a solution for a system that
has been sick for a long time. The Coronavirus was an evident picture of how sick the health care system
is, seeing even a powerful country like the US could not handle it. The common day to day interaction of
people with healthcare is primary care which is fragmented and expensive. That is what she wanted to
simplify- primary care. Bringing the solution to the market had its challenges like being a woman, an
immigrant, and not from an ivy league school. She, however, terms the journey as interesting and a
learning one.
How was the transition from being an employee to an entrepreneur? [7:58]
It was hard for her and her family as she transitioned from the predictable employment scene to the
unpredictable entrepreneurship scene. She learned to not convince people with words but rather by
putting energy into actions.
How did she go from conceptualizing to creating to pushing to the market and getting people
interested in the technology? [10:46]
The process of bringing the prescription article out to the market was difficult because they provide the
transparencies to compare the prescription drug prices across the pharmacies, which was not there
before. They also have a discount card for prescription drugs which is not covered by insurance. It
worked because it was a way to save people money.
How does Medipocket communicate with the pharmacies and then consumers? [14:14]
The platform is completely free for consumers but they do get referral fees while keeping the platform
100% transparent. She explains how they refer patients to pharmacies. Getting pharmacies on board
with the technology was not easy due to the non-transparent ways some of them priced their drugs but
they later did after seeing the benefits.
How did she put her team together? [17:23]
She put together a team from the medical sector, the technology sector, and the business sector. She
has a team of 25 diverse professionals and is still growing.How is she facilitating the relationship with pharmacies while still presenting the value? [19:39]
She is an active speaker in healthcare conferences where she highlights the existing problems and the
need for the technology. She has set a platform where she interviews doctors from all specialities to talk
about the most current health topics like Coronavirus today as content for Medipocket users. The core
of Medipocket is to have informed and involved patients which is what they always strive for.
What tools is she leveraging to keep things running smoothly? [23:12]
Her team understands the concept of Medipocket and doesn’t need a lot of monitoring from her side.
Since remote working due to Coronavirus, they have learned to leverage the online tools to make sure
that things are running smoothly even in the middle of a crisis.
What are some business obstacles has she had to overcome in her entrepreneurship journey? [25:23]
She learned 6 months into entrepreneurship not to worry about tomorrow. She became courageous to
solve the problems since they are often thrown to her as the founder. As a female solo founder, it was
hard to be recognized but she didn’t give up. It later became easier when people started understanding
Medipocket’s concept.
What is that one factor that pushes her to take that leap? [28:34]
She believed that her program was going to bring the solution to people and that kept her mission
going.
Dr Priyanka answers the rapid-fire round of questions. [30:02]
Subscribe to the podcast:
Apple Podcasts
https://apple.co/2x0G3Um
Spotify
https://spoti.fi/3dVzK4X

Con...