10 areas of Opportunity for Entrepreneurs in Mexico’s Health Sector

Everyone is talking about the new normal and future scenarios in a post-COVID-19 world. Leaders from different sectors are doing their best to get ahead and develop new business models adapted to this new reality. This is also true of the healthcare sector, where the pandemic has brought to light serious inefficiencies and posed a challenge for healthcare systems around the world.

But, how will the healthcare sector change? Will it transform the way in which value is delivered to patients? What can entrepreneurs do to redefine an activity that from now on will be critical in even the smallest details of our lives?

The Great Recession (2007-2009) was followed by a boom in entrepreneurship, since recessions produce many of the market’s most successful and disruptive companies. The health sector, unlike other activities, enjoys a broad base of researchers, entrepreneurs and startups. However, it still faces the huge challenge of working collaboratively to design and develop innovative processes, products and services, which will imply a sudden change of course for the industry.

There are 10 major areas of opportunity that can initially be identified in the health sector, which, in turn, represents fertile ground for entrepreneurs:

1. Hospitals: Most of the world’s health systems fail to meet the quality standards every patient deserves. The experience of going to a public medical center can very often be chaotic, while the private system is far too expensive. This enormous dilemma has resulted in hospitals and in-person healthcare centers (now under scrutiny owing to the risks of contagion) starting to become last-resort solutions. Nowadays, patients are looking for remote alternatives.
2. Specialization spaces or centers: These are becoming more and more attractive owing to their practicality and affordability, since costs or investments in areas unrelated to the disease in question are not included in the patient pricing.
3. Logistics and supplies: Healthcare institutions are seeking to integrate and improve the supply chain so as not to depend on third parties and in order to expedite their processes.
4. Prevention: The new key focus will be prevention, above everything else. This will make sure that patients, and staff, are able to avoid direct contact unless strictly necessary. 
5. Telemedicine: Even though it seemed unfeasible, home office will also be used in health services. Making diagnoses through remote devices and offering online services or analyses will be essential.
6. Real-time interactions and 5G: Thanks to 5G, interactions with physicians and specialists will make getting appointments and operations faster in real time and remotely.
7. Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI will be a decisive factor in the health sector, serving as the foundation for diagnoses and for making more accurate decisions regarding patients.   
8. Automated medical devices and robots: The sum of 5G and AI will open the way in the industry for more precise robots with greater opportunities for intervention.
9. Drug marketing: There is a huge opportunity for drug delivery and administering in every form. Channels, patient contact protocols and pricing strategies will all have to be redefined.
10. Data, digitalization and confidence: It is becoming increasingly essential to collect patient information and data, behavior, needs and preferences, making it possible to identify patterns and support global and specific decisions.

Some Mexican startups have already set out on this path, such as Vitau, a firm that, after having received investment and operating correctly, has advanced its expansion plans under a different business model parallel to drug sales, capitalizing these opportunities to move under the new normal.

Laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology and drug production are other verticals that warrant independent analysis. The changes will be substantial and, above all, worth observing closely in order to develop solutions that will generate value for patients.

The health sector is undergoing a leveling of the playing field or the market, with the democratization of services and access to products as the main trend. Diverse technologies have made it increasingly easier for entrepreneurs to compete, in such a way that the health sector offers an excellent opportunity to innovate, generate solutions, and design new business models.

There is still quite a way to go before the growth of ventures is triggered in the health sector. However, more and better programs and support platforms are emerging, such as the Healthaton, which will take place virtually on May 22 and 23, or the health-sector startup accelerator Tec Lean Launch Digital Health, two initiatives that entrepreneurs can explore to build a new health sector adapted to the post-COVID-19 era.