Most healthcare SaaS solutions are dead on arrival.

There are several reasons for this, and there is a solution. But first, a quick refresher:

Thirty years ago, a software company would develop a product (Windows, Word, etc.) and sell it to customers (on diskettes, then CDs, and later via download). Every few years, a new version would be released, and customers would upgrade (At least this was the game plan).

Nowadays, companies sell a subscription (monthly or annual) whereby customers keep on paying ad infinitum. In return, customers get continuous improvements in the product, bug fixes, and some level of support. This is known as Software as a Service (SaaS).

SaaS has become the preferred business model of startups from Silicon Valley to the rest of the world because it creates a reliable, forecastable revenue stream.

Digital health companies are no exception, and billions of dollars have been invested in companies that created beautiful apps, websites, and bots. There’s only one problem – patients hate them and clinicians struggle to use them.

For the most part, integrating digital health software into a health system or health plan is fraught with blood, sweat, and tears – except that there’s no victory at the end, only frustrated clinicians that had to learn how to use yet another system, which means even less time to spend with patients.

That’s why at Twig we took a different approach – we don’t sell software to plans and providers – we sell a turnkey service.

It’s not that we didn’t develop software. In fact, we developed an amazing platform, with generative AI, operational optimizations, and lots of cool features. But the users of our platform are our own employees – registered nurses – who use the software to serve our customers and their patients.

There are 2 benefits to this approach:

  1. little to no technology integration with our customers’ existing IT systems
  2. no staff training required because there is no new software installed

If you’d like to learn more about Twig’s novel service architecture, drop us a line.