Health Tech Needs More People Who’ve Actually Been in Healthcare

Health tech is booming. Every week, there’s a new AI startup promising to “disrupt” hospitals, reinvent patient care, or make clinical workflows more efficient.

And yet, somehow, most of these platforms still feel like they were built in a vacuum.

They’re sleek. They’re well-funded. And they completely ignore the lived reality of the people they claim to serve — nurses, doctors, CNAs, medical assistants, case managers, coders, techs, and frontline admin staff who are stretched thin and burning out faster than ever.

As someone who’s worked inside the system — who’s been on the floor, in the documentation, dealing with regulatory chaos, tech failures, and time pressures — I can tell you: Most health tech tools don’t solve real problems. They create new ones.

The Gap Between Tech and Reality

Here’s what happens when health tech is built without healthcare professionals in the room:

• You get “solutions” that add 6 more clicks to every chart note.

• You get predictive models that ignore race, gender, and context.

• You get patient engagement tools that no one actually uses.

• You get data dashboards that sound impressive in meetings — but do nothing to support bedside decisions or burnout reduction.

It’s not that these tools are evil or that tech can’t help. It’s that the people designing them haven’t lived the pressure.

You can’t design for something you’ve never experienced, not really.

We Need Hybrid Thinkers

The future of health tech shouldn’t be run by outsiders looking in. It should be shaped by hybrid thinkers — clinicians turned coders, administrators turned analysts, nurses turned informaticists, and public health pros who understand both patient experience and systems.

This isn’t about gatekeeping. It’s about grounding.

We need more builders who’ve had to:

• Juggle 20 patients on a broken EHR

• Manage compliance in underfunded clinics

• Teach anatomy in overcrowded classrooms

• Chart under pressure with real consequences

Those are the people who can tell you what tech is actually useful.

And yes, we need them not just testing tools, but leading product strategy, running innovation teams, and co-founding companies.

Why I’m Here

This is why I do what I do. I’m not in tech because it’s trendy. I’m here because I’ve seen what happens when systems don’t work. When tools make things harder instead of helping.

I bring my clinical lens, my public health education, my experience in compliance and education — because it’s not enough to know the tech. You have to understand the terrain.

And if you’re reading this and feel like an imposter in tech because you “don’t have a CS degree,” let me say this clearly:

If you’ve held space for patients, managed broken systems, or kept clinics running despite it all — you’re not behind. You’re exactly what health tech needs.

Want more grounded, inside-out tech strategy? Follow me here or connect at alexiscollier.com.