Disruptive Innovation Examples in Healthcare

India is showing the world how healthcare innovation should be done. While the U.S. poured more than $2 billion into its Cancer Moonshot—announcing grand ambitions but delivering little—India’s Karkinos Healthcare built a nationwide cancer care network with just $100 million. As I explain in Fortune, in four years (less than the Moonshot’s original target), They screened over 3 million people, diagnosed 60,000 cancer patients, and brought life-saving care to 35,000 people in villages and small towns who previously had no access at all. This isn’t theory or another pile of academic papers, it is real-world impact. Karkinos lives saved, suffering reduced, and a model that is now scaling across India with Reliance Industries at the helm. Having had a front-row seat as an advisor and mentor to Karkinos, I saw the challenges: logistical nightmares, funding gaps, and moments when the company’s survival was in question. But determination, speed, and flawless execution turned the tide—proving what’s possible when bold vision meets relentless action, both Venkat R. and Moni Abraham Kuriakose did wonders. Governments everywhere should take note: the future of healthcare depends on partnerships that execute, not just research grants and bureaucracy. The lesson is clear—whether in India, the U.S., or anywhere else—the winners will be those who combine vision with focused, scalable action. https://lnkd.in/g7N7gczr #HealthcareInnovation #India #CancerCare #PublicPrivatePartnerships #Execution #Karkinos #GlobalHealth

Duke Rohlen built and sold 5 companies for $1.7B.  Here's how he's disrupting medical industry with his new model👇 Rohlen started a restaurant business at 22, scaling it to $20M+ in revenue. Post that, he went on an entrepreneurial journey in building medical devices. He built and sold 5 companies in the role of either Co-founder, CEO, MD, or Director. Today, he runs Ajax Health—a private equity platform backed by KKR. His playbook? To turn large, slow companies into lean, fast-moving venture portfolios. Take Cordis, for example → It was once stuck at $700M with slow growth and thin profit, but is now doing over $1B in annual sales after the acquisition of Ajax. Here’s how he is doing it👇 1./ Learnings from different industries Rohlen started in the restaurant industry, scaling and selling a successful chain before ever touching healthcare. But that outsider experience became his edge. He brought with him: • Operational rigor • Relentless efficiency • Customer-first thinking At Lumen, Fox Hollow, and CV Ingenuity (his earlier companies): he applied these same principles. As per him: “We needed a better way to balance capital efficiency and technological ambition.” 2./ New Venture and R&D Models After the acquisition of Cordis, he created “Cordis-X,” a venture arm under Ajax. Since most medtech innovation is either too risky or too slow, he fixes that by restructuring the innovation pipeline. He breaks development into three categories: • Transformative → Bold, high-risk tech • Synergistic → Enhancements to existing products • Incremental → Small but essential updates So, instead of betting everything on a moonshot, he blends all three. This approach blends bold bets with steady improvements, driving faster, lower-risk innovation without wasting capital. 3./ Focus on Capital Efficiency Rohlen’s model redesigns medtech innovation around two principles: • Strategic Budgeting • Hiring independent talent As per him: spending $100M on the wrong bet is career-ending. He focuses budgets on key inflection points, Ajax compresses timelines from 8 years to just 3.5, without cutting quality. There's also a smart talent trick in play. Instead of a traditional org chart, Rohlen uses a model where: - Cordis-X runs like an App Store.  - Engineers and entrepreneurs get scoped projects. - They have fixed budgets and upside in the outcome. This model removes the biggest blockers of capital inefficiency and bureaucracy. Ajax’s model didn’t stop at Cordis. They’ve partnered with multiple multibillion-dollar corporations, building custom growth engines inside each one. Why this works: ↳ Faster, de-risked innovation ↳ Legacy firms avoid disruption ↳ Entrepreneurial talent gets autonomy + support A story with tons of insights for both acquirers and founders.

Imagine having the power of a hospital at your fingertips, and a research assistant working around the clock Here are 10 AI game-changers healthcare leaders should know: Abridge: Mayo Clinic's 2,000+ doctors use this to turn conversations into perfect clinical notes automatically. Suki Assistant: Voice AI that cuts documentation time by 72% and integrates with Epic, Oracle, and athenahealth. Prenosis Sepsis ImmunoScore: First FDA-approved AI for sepsis detection, analyzes 22 parameters to save lives in real-time. Aidoc BriefCase: Radiology AI deployed in 1,000+ hospitals—detects strokes and fractures 80% faster than humans. PathAI AISight: FDA-cleared digital pathology platform for cancer diagnosis with 15+ million pathology annotations. Imagen FractureDetect: First FDA-cleared AI for fracture detection, reduces missed fractures by 45% in primary care. da Vinci System: 13 million robotic surgeries performed globally with AI-enhanced precision and tremor filtration. AlphaFold 3: DeepMind's protein folding AI used by Pfizer, Novartis, and Roche to design breakthrough drugs. Current Health Wearable: FDA-cleared remote monitoring achieving 90% patient adherence across major health systems. Woebot Health: FDA Breakthrough Device for mental health treatment—1 million users treated for depression and anxiety. These aren’t experiments, they’re deployed in clinics, ERs, and patient homes right now. The real-world impact? Faster, safer diagnosis. Fewer errors. More early cancer, stroke, chronic illness caught. Better notes, higher retention, real engagement. Which tool excites you most? What breakthroughs do you see coming next for clinical care? Drop a comment and let’s push the future together. For real stories and actionable trends, follow me to stay updated. Follow quick.md, @ryanlissack on X for more insights.