Why Health System Innovation Has to Solve for Medtech Product Adoption with Tony Mango and Evan Gomez
- 19 hours ago
- 4 min read
Product Adoption & Health System Innovation
In medtech, a strong idea is only the beginning; the real test is whether it can fit into the clinical, operational, financial, and human realities of healthcare.
Healthcare innovation often starts with a problem someone sees every day. A clinician notices a workflow that slows care down. A technician sees a recurring safety risk. A nurse identifies a workaround that should not have to exist. A physician imagines a better tool for a procedure they perform again and again.
But turning that observation into a product is not as simple as building the solution. In a health system, innovation has to survive a much harder test: Will people use it? Will it fit the workflow? Will it improve care without creating new burden? Will anyone pay for it? And can it move fast enough to matter?
That is why health system innovation requires more than invention. It requires a disciplined pathway from problem identification to development, validation, implementation, and adoption.
The best ideas often start inside the system
Some of the most valuable healthcare problems are not obvious from the outside. They are embedded in daily clinical life: the frustrating device, the repeated delay, the overlooked handoff, the unnecessary step, the process that everyone quietly works around.
That is why inside-out innovation matters. When healthcare workers are invited to identify problems from their own experience, the innovation pipeline becomes grounded in real-world need.
At Orlando Health, innovation disclosures can come from across the system, not only from physicians or executives. That matters because healthcare delivery is team-based. Environmental services, radiology technicians, kitchen staff, nurses, therapists, administrators, and physicians all see different parts of the patient and operational experience.
As Evan Gomez put it, many people do not bring a fully formed product. They bring a problem: “...this bugs me every day and I don’t know what to do about it.”
That kind of problem-first thinking is powerful. It keeps innovation connected to practical need rather than novelty.
Outside innovation still has to fit inside clinical reality
External startups can move quickly, focus intensely, and build with a level of speed that is difficult inside a large health system. But speed alone is not enough.
A company may have a technically impressive product and still fail if it was built without enough exposure to the hospital environment. Healthcare products have to fit through literal and figurative doors: physical space, clinical workflows, staffing constraints, documentation, procurement, reimbursement, information technology requirements, and patient safety expectations.
That is why voice-of-customer research cannot be superficial. A founder cannot speak to one clinician, generalize the answer, and assume the product is ready for broad adoption.
As Gomez noted, “You speak to one hospital system, you speak to one hospital system.”
In other words, one hospital’s workflow, buying process, patient population, and clinical priorities may not represent the entire market. Startups need repeated, varied, and candid exposure to end users.
Workflow can make or break adoption
Healthcare workers are already overburdened. A product that solves one problem but adds three new steps may not last, even if the underlying technology is strong.
That is where workflow becomes central. The question is not simply, “Does this work?” It is, “Can this work here, with these people, under these constraints, without creating more friction than value?”
For medtech companies, workflow should not be treated as an implementation detail. It is part of the product strategy.
A device, digital health tool, diagnostic platform, or operational technology must be designed around how care is actually delivered. That includes who touches it, who orders it, who documents it, who maintains it, who pays for it, and who is accountable when something goes wrong.
Economic value cannot be ignored
Healthcare innovation often carries a moral pull: better outcomes, safer procedures, less burden, stronger patient experiences. But in the U.S. healthcare system, clinical value and economic value have to be addressed together.
A product may improve care and still struggle if it threatens existing reimbursement, increases operating costs, or lacks a clear buyer. That can be frustrating, but ignoring the financial reality does not make it disappear.
Tony Mango described the challenge bluntly: “You can’t equate cost savings to heart savings.”
That tension is one of the hardest parts of medtech commercialization. Innovators have to understand not only the patient and clinician benefit, but also the business case for hospitals, payers, and purchasers.
Why this matters
Health systems are uniquely positioned to help medtech companies build better products because they understand the real-world environment of care. They know where the pain points are. They know which workflows are fragile. They know which products will create burden, which ones can gain champions, and which ones are unlikely to survive purchasing scrutiny.
For startups, that makes health system engagement incredibly valuable. Not only for validation, but for direction.
What to watch
The most important opportunity is the convergence of inside-out and outside-in innovation.
Inside-out innovation identifies real problems from the people closest to care. Outside-in innovation brings speed, focus, and market-ready development. When those two forces work together, the result can be stronger products, better implementation strategies, and more realistic commercialization paths.
For founders, the practical implication is clear: do not build in a vacuum. Get inside the workflow. Understand the buyer. Validate across more than one setting. Learn what clinicians need, what operators will approve, and what the system can actually adopt.
Medtech innovation is not only about building what is possible. It is about building what can make it into care.
To learn more, listen to the full Project Medtech Podcast episode with Tony Mango and Evan Gomez:
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