I’m thrilled today to share what I’ve been working on over the last year with a group of talented partners and founders. It’s called Panda, and we built it to be the fastest, safest, and highest quality marketplace for digital innovations.
A number of years ago I published an article titled “Healthcare needs a prescription for more startups.” The premise was that EHRs had achieved broad adoption and the stage was set for a new generation of innovation to harness the power of connectivity and data. And because of the sheer magnitude of the opportunity, it was impossible for the EHR companies themselves to have a monopoly on that power, and the die was cast for an innovative industry of entrepreneurs to emerge.
We’ve proven we can slash cycle times and eliminate the pain. And all of us at Panda are excited to share it with you.
It’s been almost four years since I wrote that and my, how that prescription has been filled! Estimates put the number of companies offering digital solutions for health care at over 4000 – a mind-boggling figure for anyone on either side of the market.
So now, a new prescription is needed: we need a marketplace that can simplify this complex ecosystem of buyers and suppliers.
This complexity bogs down transformation when we need it to accelerate. Search, sales, contracting and implementation cycles can take more than a year, delaying impact needed today. Buyers tear their hair out managing point solutions whose numbers quickly grow into the dozens. Similarly, suppliers have built amazing solutions, but burn precious cash working through low-yield, high-risk sales processes. If we as an industry are going to deliver experiences that consumers demand and deserve, we need a better way.
That’s where Panda comes in. We simplify digital health transformation across the entire procurement cycle. For new adoption, we narrow the field of options to a select few, pre-vet the suppliers, match them to user needs, budgets, and culture, then negotiate standardized contracts that all our buyers can use, and assist with integration. For existing contracts, we serve as a single point of coordination, oversight, and optimization for large enterprises.
We’ve proven we can slash cycle times and eliminate the pain. And all of us at Panda are excited to share it with providers, health systems, and digital health companies everywhere. Let me know how I can share it with you.
David Harvey, CEO
