Innovating the NHS: How Healthtech-1 is Saving Time and Resources
Healthtech-1 is a pioneering healthtech start-up founded in 2021 and based in London, United Kingdom. This innovative company focuses on automating repetitive processes within healthcare systems, starting with the world-renowned National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. The team, led by founders Raj Kohli and Peter Huang, is dedicated to digitizing the mundane tasks that consume valuable time and resources in primary care practices. Healthtech-1 has already made a significant impact, being operational in over 400 primary care practices, and aims to revolutionize healthcare by making it more efficient and sustainable.
Why Was Healthtech-1 Founded?
The idea behind Healthtech-1 was born out of a necessity to address the increasing pressures faced by the NHS, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NHS, a cornerstone of British society providing free healthcare at the point of delivery, is grappling with a severe crisis. Patient satisfaction has plummeted to a 25-year low, and a staggering number of staff are leaving their positions due to mental and physical exhaustion, exacerbating an already substantial recruitment gap.
Raj Kohli, an NHS Clinical Entrepreneur, and Peter Huang, a product and growth specialist, saw an urgent need to alleviate these pressures. Having grown up in a primary care environment and possessing deep expertise in intelligent automation from their previous roles, they recognized that automating repetitive tasks could save thousands of hours of staff time, improve patient care, and ultimately make free healthcare sustainable.
What Problems is Healthtech-1 Addressing?
The NHS, Europe’s largest employer, faces monumental challenges. It handles approximately 590 million patient contacts annually, with the demand for healthcare services continuously rising due to longer life expectancies and an ageing population. The largest single cost for the NHS is staffing, with a $93 billion wage bill covering 470,000 administrators, 740,000 clinicians, and 50,000 managers. These healthcare professionals spend an inordinate amount of time on manual, repetitive tasks such as data entry, summarisation, filing, and scheduling.
The conventional solution to these challenges has been to hire more staff. However, recruitment alone is not a sustainable answer, given the sheer scale of the issues. Healthtech-1 proposes a different approach: leveraging advanced technology to automate these repetitive processes, thus freeing up staff to focus on more critical and complex aspects of patient care.
How Does Healthtech-1 Provide Solutions?
Healthtech-1 employs cutting-edge technology to automate a wide range of repetitive tasks in healthcare settings. Their first major automation project, launched 18 months ago, focused on new patient registrations. This solution is now live in over 100 NHS Primary Care practices across England, saving more than 1000 hours of staff time each week. This efficiency gain is equivalent to adding 25 full-time staff members to the NHS, and it provides a superior patient experience at half the cost.
The Healthtech-1 team, working from Raj’s parents' primary care practice, meticulously identifies and digitizes the repetitive processes they encounter daily. By systematically implementing these automations, Healthtech-1 not only enhances operational efficiency but also significantly reduces costs, making the concept of free healthcare more viable in the long term.
Who Are the Founders of Healthtech-1?
Healthtech-1 was co-founded by Raj Kohli and Peter Huang, two childhood friends with complementary skills and a shared vision for transforming healthcare. Raj Kohli is an NHS Clinical Entrepreneur who grew up immersed in the healthcare environment of his parents’ primary care practice. His background as a management consultant, where he delivered intelligent automation projects for global banks, provided him with the expertise needed to tackle the inefficiencies in the NHS.
Peter Huang, a British-born Chinese based in London, brings a wealth of experience in product development, growth, and engineering. As a former web engineer at Monzo, Peter has a proven track record of building products that resonate with millions of users. Together, Raj and Peter founded Healthtech-1, driven by their ikigai - a Japanese concept meaning "reason for being" - to help a national health system thrive.
What is the Company’s Vision?
Healthtech-1 envisions a world where healthcare systems are not bogged down by inefficient manual processes. By automating these tasks, they aim to create the world’s most productive healthcare system, starting with the NHS. The company's mission is to reduce the burden on healthcare staff, improve patient care, and make free healthcare sustainable.
Healthtech-1 is not just about technology; it's about creating meaningful change in healthcare. By freeing up time for healthcare professionals to focus on patient care, they hope to enhance job satisfaction, reduce burnout, and ultimately improve the overall health system.
How Has Healthtech-1 Grown?
From its inception in 2021, Healthtech-1 has grown from a small team working out of a primary care practice to a dynamic organization with a diverse team of engineers, doctors, and an accountant. Their rapid growth and success in deploying their automation solutions in over 100 primary care practices is a testament to their innovative approach and the pressing need for their services in the healthcare sector.
The company’s growth is also reflected in their participation in Y Combinator, one of the world’s most prestigious start-up accelerators. This opportunity has allowed Healthtech-1 to attract top talent and gain the support needed to scale their solutions and expand their impact.
What is the Impact of Healthtech-1?
Healthtech-1’s impact on the NHS has been profound. By automating new patient registrations alone, they have saved over 1000 hours of staff time per week, providing significant cost savings and operational efficiencies. These improvements translate to better patient experiences, as evidenced by their 9.8/10 patient satisfaction rating.
Beyond the numbers, Healthtech-1 is contributing to a cultural shift within the NHS. By demonstrating the tangible benefits of automation, they are encouraging broader acceptance and adoption of technology-driven solutions in healthcare. This shift is crucial for the long-term sustainability of the NHS and other healthcare systems facing similar challenges worldwide.
What Are Healthtech-1’s Future Plans?
Looking ahead, Healthtech-1 plans to continue expanding its automation solutions to cover more repetitive processes within the NHS and other healthcare systems globally. Their goal is to create a comprehensive suite of automated tools that can address the myriad inefficiencies plaguing healthcare operations.
The company is also focused on growing its team and enhancing its technology to stay at the forefront of healthtech innovation. By attracting the best talent and leveraging the latest advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning, Healthtech-1 aims to push the boundaries of what is possible in healthcare automation.
How Can Healthtech-1 Transform Global Healthcare?
Healthtech-1’s model of automating repetitive healthcare processes has the potential to transform healthcare systems around the world. By reducing the administrative burden on healthcare staff, improving operational efficiency, and lowering costs, their solutions can help address the universal challenges of rising healthcare demands and staffing shortages.
As Healthtech-1 continues to innovate and expand, their vision of a more efficient, sustainable, and patient-centered healthcare system becomes increasingly attainable. Their success with the NHS serves as a powerful proof of concept, demonstrating that with the right technology and approach, it is possible to revolutionize healthcare delivery on a global scale.