MIN-Corps Blog: Health Care Business Model Innovation 2: The Seven-Year "Startup"

Monday, September 21, 2015

Health Care Business Model Innovation 2: The Seven-Year "Startup"

In my last post, I linked to an interview with Linda Hall, the former CEO who turned around Minute Clinic and ultimately sold it to CVS. In today's StarTribune, there's an article on the spreading phenomenon of in-store clinics, but Minute Clinic is 15 years old! Especially in health care, innovation adoption seems to take longer than you would expect. Established health care providers are playing catch-up. How do they do it? Usually either through acquisition (as CVS did), or through outsourcing to a young company.

We often think of younger, innovative companies as "startups" even though it can take years for them to hit their stride. Case in point: Zipnosis, a seven-year old "startup," which private-labels virtual healthcare for established providers. Zipnosis was started by a Carlson School MBA student collaborating with medical professionals and won the Minnesota Cup venture competition Student Division way back in 2008. Its leadership team also currently includes a founder of Minute Clinic as Chief Clinical Officer and my colleague Toby Nord as Chair of the Board. Zipnosis spent years experimenting with different target markets, and didn't take off until health care systems truly began to value patient convenience and operational efficiency.

About MIN-Corps

MIN-Corps is the University of Minnesota site of the National Innovation Corps, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. We collaborate with technology commercialization initiatives across the University of Minnesota, including:

MnDRIVE - Minnesota’s Discovery, Research, and Innovation Economy – is a landmark partnership between the University and the state of Minnesota that aligns areas of University research strength with the state’s key and emerging industries to address grand challenges.

MN-REACH - Minnesota Research And Commercialization Hub - is a joint effort between the University and the National Institutes of Health that provides the initial investment and resources to nurture innovators to develop high priority technologies within the NIH's mission.

Office for Technology Commercialization (OTC) - the University of Minnesota technology transfer office that oversees all aspects of technology commercialization at the University, including patenting, licensing to established companies, and startups spun out of the University.