Growth in the applications market for many industries has been rapid, but appears much slower for healthcare-related applications. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine whether: (1) the healthcare field was perceived to be a slower adopter of digital solutions than other industries; (2) if so, what barriers contributed to this; and (3) what might mitigate these barriers? We conducted an exploratory qualitative study by interviewing six startup CEOs and conducting an ethnographic study at a digital health startup to answer these questions. The CEOs contended that compared with their prior ventures in non-healthcare settings, healthcare providers were slower adopters of novel innovations. Another key preliminary finding was the asymmetric impact of regulatory pressures. Even if the startup's product met regulatory requirements, healthcare providers were reluctant and risk adverse adopters. A last barrier was the need for multidisciplinary buy-in from other stakeholders, including payers and incumbent HIT vendors.
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