Forging Win-Win Collaborations in Healthcare

Key Learnings From Dan’s Experience

• Partnerships are essential for growth in the healthcare industry. Focus on building strategic alliances that leverage both your core competencies and those of your partners. Prioritize long-term, win-win collaborations over short-term gains. Be selective when choosing partners, and don't hesitate to walk away from deals that don't align with your long-term goals.

• If you’re disrupting a market, early adopters are your life vest, but they are not enough. Work closely with them to demonstrate the value and ROI of your offering while further proving its outcomes through clinical studies. Gather robust data to convince larger stakeholders and secure wider coverage.

• Healthcare has been slowly shifting from a fee-for-service model to a fee-for-value model. When introducing novel solutions, it’s important to understand the incumbents, key stakeholders, and the flow of funds. To build a venture that generates long-term value, be selective with your investors, support risk-based agreements where payment is tied to patient outcomes instead of a one-time service, and make sure you clearly demonstrate the ROI of your solution.

“Everyone is impacted by cancer to some degree,” says Dan Nardi. Unfortunately, a cancer diagnosis is often a turning point where patients are often required to visit hospitals frequently for a demanding treatment journey. Dealing with the commute and parking before the entire process of chemotherapy adds to the overall exhaustion caused by both the disease and its treatment. But what if quality cancer care could be delivered in the comfort of patients’ homes? That’s the vision driving Reimagine Care, the industry's first virtual cancer center. 

Dan brings over two decades of experience in healthcare IT and digital health to his role as CEO at Reimagine Care. Reimagine Care’s solution is two-pronged: symptom management and at-home cancer treatment encompassing oral oncolytics for patients and a few therapies that can safely be delivered at home, especially during times when a hospital visit would be unnecessary. “Patients going through the cancer journey deserve the highest quality care in the comfort of their own home, around the ones they love, and doing more of what they enjoy,” Dan says.

The platform includes an AI-based virtual assistant and a comprehensive suite of tools as well as oncology-trained nurses, advanced practice providers, and a medical director. Patients can use the AI-based chatbots, or reach a medical professional through text messaging, phone calls, and video calls to ask questions and get support. Reimagine Care reports 97% of symptoms resolved without patients leaving their home. This does not only extend high-quality care beyond the clinic into the patients’ homes, but also reduces financial and time burdens on patients and their caregivers. 

Dan believes they have achieved product-market fit. The company has partnered up with healthcare systems, community practices, and academic medical centers – “basically any team that is currently providing care and treatment for cancer patients,” he explains. Currently, Reimagine Care has paying customers like City of Hope, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders (CCBD) in Dallas, Memorial Hermann, and the University of Colorado. They are also a founding member of CancerX, a public-private partnership to support innovation in the fight against cancer. 

Looking ahead, the next 12 months for Reimagine Care will be about forging new partnerships and supporting more cancer patients.