Houston health care expert shares lessons from journey of developing a telehealth MVP

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When creating groundbreaking health care technology, keeping products user friendly is a necessity. Photo via Getty Images

In the vibrant landscape of startups, the quest to build groundbreaking products can sometimes overshadow the true essence of our existence — to solve problems for our customers.

It's a trap many fall into, often leading to two common outcomes: prolonged product launches stretching over years or an unfortunate mismatch between product and market leading to startup death. But a dynamic solution exists, minimum viable products, or MVPs. MVP has propelled startups to unprecedented success.

A real-life testimony: MVP's power

Imagine a health care-focused at-home testing startup partnered with a major player. The aim: a telehealth support system for the at-home colon cancer screening. Unlike traditional telehealth services, this system required guiding members through a complex process of collecting stool samples accurately.

Challenges presented

  • Develop a user-friendly telehealth solution in five to six weeks on a limited budget and secure a high-stakes multimillion-dollar deal.
  • Carefully integrating telehealth on the existing portal for user-friendly access while aligning seamlessly with user expectations.
  • Address the complexities of Telehealth, including clinician staffing and regulatory adherence.

User Insights

User journeys and interviews confirmed the necessity for guided support during test-taking, but users showed reluctance to navigate the process independently and expressed a preference for customer support over a clinician assistant.

Interestingly, telehealth was not instinctively linked to test support, but rather to medical advice.

The birth of an MVP strategy: a catalyst for innovation

Since the main user problem was the guided support during test-taking, we created the following MVP solutions.

  • Video call integration: Direct video call button under customer support.
  • Guided messaging: Articulate call support purpose.
  • Testing guides: Portal's step-by-step guidance with videos.
  • Video guide in test kit materials.

Our MVP led us to an excellent NPS score and became a guide for our future roadmap.

Next time you build, remember this and embrace the dynamic MVP strategy — create, learn, and reiterate are the cornerstones of success in digital health product management's journey.

Here are four steps for building a successful MVP in telehealth.

  • Identify crucial user problems: Pinpoint your target customers' most pressing issue.
  • Solve a small problem simply: Initiate a straightforward solution to address a minor problem.
  • Plot the user's journey: Map out the user's path through your solution.
  • Prioritize ruthlessly: Discern the key features and prioritize with precision.
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Tanu Jain is the founder and CEO of Houston-based Digital Health Innovator, a strategic marketing firm for health care products.

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TMC lands $3M grant to launch cancer device accelerator

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A new business accelerator at Houston’s Texas Medical Center has received a nearly $3 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

The CPRIT grant, awarded to the Texas Medical Center Foundation, will help launch the Accelerator for Cancer Medical Devices. The accelerator will support emerging innovators in developing prototypes for cancer-related medical devices and advancing them from prototype to clinical trials.

“The translation of new cancer-focused precision medical devices, often the width of a human hair, creates the opportunity to develop novel treatments for cancer patients,” the accelerator posted on the CPRIT website.

Scientist, consultant, and entrepreneur Jason Sakamoto, associate director of the TMC Center for Device Innovation, will oversee the accelerator. TMC officials say the accelerator builds on the success of TMC Innovation’s Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics.

Each participant in the Accelerator for Cancer Medical Devices program will graduate with a device prototype, a business plan, and a “solid foundation” in preclinical and clinical strategies, TMC says. Participants will benefit from “robust support” provided by the TMC ecosystem, according to the medical center, and “will foster innovation into impactful and life-changing cancer patient solutions in Texas and beyond.”

In all, CPRIT recently awarded $27 million in grants for cancer research. That includes $18 million to attract top cancer researchers to Texas. Houston institutions received $4 million for recruitment:

  • $2 million to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to recruit Rodrigo Romero from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City
  • $2 million to MD Anderson to recruit Eric Gardner from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City

A $1 million grant also went to Baylor College of Medicine researcher Dr. Akiva Diamond. He is an assistant professor at the medical college and is affiliated with Baylor’s Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX has reached a deal worth about $17 billion with EchoStar for spectrum licenses that it will use to beef up its Starlink satellite network.

The deal for EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses includes up to $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock. SpaceX will make approximately $2 billion in cash interest payments on EchoStar debt through November 2027.

SpaceX and EchoStar will enter into a long-term commercial agreement which will allow EchoStar’s Boost Mobile subscribers to access SpaceX’s next generation Starlink Direct to Cell service.

Shares of EchoStar surged 19% before the market opened Monday.

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EchoStar said that it anticipates that the AT&T deal and the SpaceX transaction will resolve recent inquiries from the Federal Communications Commission about the rollout of 5G technology in the U.S. The FCC had been calling for hearings on whether Echostar was properly using the spectrum that it is now selling, and its efforts to make 5G more available to communities.

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Two Rice undergraduate engineering students have developed a non-invasive vibrotactile glove that aims to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease through therapeutic vibrations.

Emmie Casey and Tomi Kuye developed the project with support from the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK) and guidance from its director, Maria Oden, and Rice lecturer Heather Bisesti, according to a news release from the university.

The team based the design on research from the Peter Tass Lab at Stanford University, which explored how randomized vibratory stimuli delivered to the fingertips could help rewire misfiring neurons in the brain—a key component of Parkinson’s disease.

Clinical trials from Stanford showed that coordinated reset stimulation from the vibrations helped patients regain motor control and reduced abnormal brain activity. The effects lasted even after users removed the vibrotactile gloves.

Casey and Kuye set out to replicate the breakthrough at a lower cost. Their prototype replaced the expensive motors used in previous designs with motors found in smartphones that create similar tiny vibrations. They then embedded the motors into each fingertip of a wireless glove.

“We wanted to take this breakthrough and make it accessible to people who would never be able to afford an expensive medical device,” Casey said in the release. “We set out to design a glove that delivers the same therapeutic vibrations but at a fraction of the cost.”

Rice’s design also targets the root of the neurological disruption and attempts to retrain the brain. An early prototype was given to a family friend who had an early onset of the disease. According to anecdotal data from Rice, after six months of regularly using the gloves, the user was able to walk unaided.

“We’re not claiming it’s a cure,” Kuye said in the release. “But if it can give people just a little more control, a little more freedom, that’s life-changing.”

Casey and Kuye are working to develop a commercial version of the glove priced at $250. They are taking preorders and hope to release 500 pairs of gloves this fall. They've also published an open-source instruction manual online for others who want to try to build their own glove at home. They have also formed a nonprofit and plan to use a sliding scale price model to help users manage the cost.

“This project exemplifies what we strive for at the OEDK — empowering students to translate cutting-edge research into real-world solutions,” Oden added in the release. “Emmie and Tomi have shown extraordinary initiative and empathy in developing a device that could bring meaningful relief to people living with Parkinson’s, no matter their resources.”

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