HTD Health is a healthcare strategy, design, and software development company. Our mission is to imagine, design, and build a healthier world. We focus on custom software that prioritizes the patient experience while improving accessibility, efficiency, and productivity in the healthcare system. Pulse 2.0 interviewed HTD Health co-founder and CEO Zachary Markin to learn more.
Zachary Markin’s Background
Markin was trained in chemical engineering but worked professionally as a data and infrastructure engineer before founding HTD Health. And Markin said:
“I’ve started several companies over the years, but none achieved ‘break out success’ or the degree of scalability and sustainability that we have achieved with HTD Health. My focus was primarily on consumer tech before helping some clients build software for healthcare, which led me to understand the immense scale of challenges in the healthcare industry.”
Formation Of HTD Health
How did the idea for HTD Health come together? Markin shared:
“My partners and I were serving customers in custom software development. We happened to have an early client who was building a technology-enabled urology clinic and another building care coordination software. As we started to work on those products, we came to understand how much work remained in bringing modern software systems to the healthcare industry and how much the industry needed to improve productivity in order to care for our aging populations. As we learned more about the space, we decided to build a uniquely focused consultancy in the space.”
Favorite Memory
What has been Markin’s favorite memory of working for HTD Health so far? Markin reflected:
“Seeing the growth of individuals over the years. There are some people who, if I reflect on where they were five years ago relative to today, I think, ‘in five years, they might be running the company…’ There are a lot of stakeholders, customers or otherwise, who when we were first starting out I would think ‘wow it would be great to know them’ and in many cases now we work closely together, share many mutual contacts, etc so it’s also nice to reflect on the growth of HTD organizationally as well as the individuals who make it up.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges has Markin faced in building the company? Markin reflected:
“Like many people, the Covid pandemic proved extremely disruptive to us as a firm. Fortunately, in our case, the pandemic itself led to further validation and value of the kinds of products we were building. It brought home to a broader population the importance of high-quality digital infrastructure within healthcare. Of course, there were many challenges along the way ranging from managing disruptions to cash flows, to transitioning to primarily virtual operations, as well as adapting to an evolving regulatory and business environment.”
Core Products
What are HTD Health’s core products and features? Markin explained:
“HTD Health is a company focused on Software as Medical Device (SaMD) design and development, EMR integration, patient engagement and behavior change, and virtual-first care. HTD Health has built and shipped over 200 production applications to satisfy customers in many different sectors, such as Johnson & Johnson, Boston Children Hospital, and Zoom.”
Evolution Of HTD Health’s Technology
How has HTD Health’s technology evolved since launching? Markin noted:
“We’ve become consistently more opinionated about the verticals within healthcare where it makes sense to apply our skill sets. Today we focus on digitally-enabled care delivery, building digital infrastructure for traditional provider organizations, and enabling the hardware transformation of care delivery through building companion applications for devices. We have unique competencies in healthcare integrations and clinical informatics, behavioral psychology informed product design, digital infrastructure for care delivery, data infrastructure and healthcare AI, and building software that is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of HTD Health’s most significant milestones? Markin cited:
“Some that come to mind include:
– Surpassing 100 team members
– Achieving ISO 27001 certification (information security)
– Launching our Software as a Medical Device practice
– Launching our AI practice
– Launching our production operations team.”
Customer Success Stories
Upon asking Markin about customer success stories, he replied:
“We were fortunate to be part of the team, together with our client, Boston Children’s Hospital, that built Vaccines.gov during the height of the pandemic. This work was highlighted by President Biden in a speech and we were proud to help make it possible.”
Funding/Revenue
After asking Markin about funding and revenue, he revealed:
“We are not externally funded but have grown from zero to eight-digit revenue over 7 years.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is HTD Health pursuing? Markin assessed:
“It depends on how you define this market, but the US healthcare industry alone will approach $6.2 trillion in size by 2028, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Typically, industries spend 4%-7% of revenue on IT and digital infrastructure, so this would lead us to conclude that market size for digital services and infrastructure in healthcare will be around $248 billion to $434 billion by 2028.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates HTD Health from its competition? Markin affirmed:
“HTD brings a uniquely focused approach to our consulting services. Most technology consultancies are multi-industry, and those that are healthcare-based tend to be general technologies within a large industry. At HTD, we are bringing human-centered technology to targeted areas of the industry and applying this technology thoughtfully through consultants who bring deep domain knowledge.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of HTD Health’s future company goals? Markin concluded:
“We aspire to power the care of one billion people.”
