In a Linkedin post titled The Role of Product Manager in Health-tech, the author Michela Casaldi mentions that when it comes to healthcare tech companies, Product Managers (PMs) often have little influence and ability to contribute to the product strategy. She quips that Product Managers are rarely involved in researching the “what and why” of a solution or feature that gets to be built – hence they are little involved in understanding users’ needs and pain points.
Her opinion can resonate with many Healthcare Product Managers and Product Owners who are juggling many responsibilities at the same time. The situation is even more pronounced in companies where the C-Suite leads the Product Strategy and the PMs share the responsibility of Product Marketing, driving the release, and fulfilling demo needs of a pre-sales team.
In situations like these, it falls upon the PM to mark their presence by learning about the healthcare ecosystem and contributing to improving it.
To understand the healthcare industry better, they need to monitor competitors, analyze trends, and listen to voices of primary healthcare personas like Physicians, Nurses, Pharmacists, Lab Technicians, Claim Resolvers, Care Providers, and Researchers among many others.
The easiest way to understand the ecosystem better and learn more about it is to follow healthcare resources that publish in-depth industry information frequently. We have rounded up some of the most insightful Healthcare publications that every PM, Product Owner, Director, and VP in the healthcare tech space can benefit from.
Here are 7 healthcare blogs & publications every product manager should follow:
The Healthcare Economist
Published by Jason Shafrin, Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting for Healthcare Economics and Policy, covers a wide array of topics related to healthcare policy and economics, value-based purchasing, the health insurance market, and Medicare policy research.
Geekdoctor
Run by the author of several books and President of Mayo Clinic Platform, John Halamka, the Geekdoctor features strongly worded opinion pieces to give you alternate perspectives to consider while designing healthcare products and services.
Healthcare IT news
Managed by HIMSS Media, this publication covers the people, policy, and technology driving next-generation healthcare in the U.S. They write on relevant topics such as electronic health records, health information exchange, privacy and security, data analytics, patient engagement, population health, and revenue cycle management.
Modern Healthcare
Publishing for 45 years, Modern Healthcare helps healthcare business leaders by sharing the latest news on policy, research studies, and tools. They cover essays, videos, interviews, opinion pieces, and data from healthcare trends over the years.
The Healthcare Blog
This blog features specialists, policy-makers, contributors across the healthcare ecosystem who have something to say. Also, every Thursday their editorial team goes live and discusses the latest scoop in the healthcare industry. Their podcasts have been going for 63 episodes and counting!
HealthsystemCIO
This publication conducts extensive one-on-one interviews, publishes select contributed articles, and produces educational webinars. Their advisory panel consists of a wide range of Chief Information Officers, VPs, Digital Officers, SVPs, amongst others to help validate findings and ask the right questions.
Product Management Today
Co-managed by Boston Product Management Association and Aggregage, this publication curates and publishes industry-wide information in the form of listicles, webinars, whitepapers, and best practices.
Spending time in growing your domain knowledge and learning about healthcare personas definitely helps every Product Manager and Product Owner bring their A-game to the boardroom and prove that they have grasped the pulse of the industry.
More Resources:
Ensuring Healthcare Compliance with UX
Design Standards to save lives – UX in Healthcare
4 Factors That Determine the Usability of Your Healthcare App
