Closing the Health Equity Gap
Stanford GSB Impact Fund: Our 2022 Healthcare Thesis
The COVID-19 pandemic massively disrupted the healthcare system and quickly exposed its frailties, inequalities, and vulnerabilities.
On average, countries reported disruptions to more than one-third of essential healthcare services.¹ Years of progress on the fight against TB and HIV was erased — the number of people treated for drug-resistant TB dropped by 20% and HIV testing dropped by 22%.² And utilization of healthcare services decreased by 30–40% globally, as individuals put off routine checkups and screenings.³ In the US alone, the indirect effects of COVID are expected to cost $125B to $200B annually and to last for decades.⁴
At the GSB Impact Fund, we are exploring tools to increase access to high-quality, affordable, personalized care as part of our mission to invest in early-stage, for-profit organizations driving both financial and social returns. On the Fund’s 2022 Healthcare team, we spent our first few weeks together digging into thesis development — below is our perspective on three of the most exciting impact-related themes in Healthcare.
Increasing Access to Care
One of the pillars of our investment thesis is the idea of increasing access to healthcare. With healthcare costs ballooning across the world, and especially in the United States, ensuring all people have access to affordable, quality healthcare is critical. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, US healthcare spending grew 9.7% in 2020, reaching $4.1 trillion, or $12,530 per person. Healthcare spending now accounts for 20% of America’s GDP. COVID-19 also brought the disparity in access to healthcare globally to the forefront. In most developed countries, vaccination rates have reached upwards of 80–90%. However, in some parts of the world, particularly countries in Africa, vaccination rates are still in the teens.
There are several potential avenues startups can take to increase access to healthcare. At its simplest form, companies could help people access care that were unable to because of geography, income, or other reasons. A powerful tool that aids in this is telehealth, and there are many startups using telehealth to enable easier access to physical and mental healthcare. Companies can also use other new and innovative medical technologies that make care easier to deliver or that decrease the cost of care. By making health systems more efficient and less costly, we remove economic barriers that stop people from accessing the care they need.
The Urgent Need for Culturally Competent Care
The last couple of years have shown us that achieving health equity is as important and urgent as ever — our health and well-being is inextricably linked to that of others across geographic, social, and economic differences. A commitment to health equity and diversity, equity and inclusion in healthcare has been top of mind for our team: as we reflect on the recent passing of global health giant, Dr. Paul Farmer, we are animated by his belief that “the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world”. This commitment shows up in our approach to sourcing in two main ways: we are looking for companies that meet the needs of those currently underserved in healthcare and we are seeking out founders who have been historically overlooked in venture funding.
We are excited about companies building solutions that drive a more equitable distribution of quality healthcare and improved health outcomes for underserved populations whether through expanding access to care and services, or through tailoring therapeutics or delivery to improve effectiveness and outcomes for these populations. We also believe that founders who belong to groups that have been overlooked in venture funding are often uniquely positioned to develop effective solutions, due to their backgrounds, experiences, and in many cases, proximity to the problems they are trying to solve and communities they aim to serve. Our team’s interests related to health equity include, but are not limited to the below areas:
- Reducing barriers to care (e.g., transportation, finances, accessibility) with a focus on underserved populations
- Tailoring interventions or delivery based on identity (e.g., race, sexual/gender identity, etc.)
- Culturally competent and relevant care delivery
- Therapeutics for conditions that disproportionately impact disadvantaged populations but may not necessarily have been well-funded in terms of research and development
The Case for Personalized Care
The COVID-19 pandemic has been incredibly challenging for patients and families around the world, but the silver lining has been the adoption of telemedicine and digital health platforms. However, as patients begin to depend more and more on virtual healthcare solutions for increasingly complex health problems, a one-size-fits-all approach simply isn’t enough. For example, the health needs of pediatric patients are drastically different from those of geriatric patients and so there is a need for systems to evolve to deliver more precise care. We are excited about solutions that provide tailored solutions and workflows that can both engage patients and optimize health outcomes for a range of patient groups.⁵
Age-specific and disease-specific solutions are excellent steps towards individualized care, but the growing abundance of genetic data will likely offer the next leap in precision healthcare delivery. Integrating genetic insights into digital health platforms has the potential to redefine our approach to healthcare, shifting the perspective to a more proactive and preventative approach. We are excited about companies that could leverage such information to help clinicians better diagnose and more accurately deploy therapeutics to treat patients.⁶
The potential for social impact through personalized care is immense. Underserved populations have unique healthcare needs, and more needs to be done to ensure that solutions are developed specifically to help such patients. We are at an inflection point in healthcare and we are determined to support companies that prioritize the development of personalized care for patients who need it the most.
If you, or someone you know, is building the future of healthcare, please reach out! You can reach the GSB Impact Fund’s Healthcare team at gsb_healthcaredealteam@stanford.edu or by messaging any of our team members via LinkedIn. Learn more about the GSB Impact Fund here.
Healthcare team: Sarah Abushaar, Soa Andrian, Lou Beaulieu-Laroche, Lauren Cantor, Divya Giyanani, Ragav Manimaran, Kevin Shah, Zach Walters, Sean Wheelock
Footnotes
- 2021–03. World Health Organization. “Pulse Survey on Continuity of Essential Health Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic”. Link here.
- 2021–09. The Global Fund. “Global Fund Results Report Reveals COVID-19 Devastating Impact on HIV, TB, and Malaria Programs.” Link here.
- 2021–03. BMJ Journals. Moynihan, Ray et al. “Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Utilization of Healthcare Services: A Systematic Review”. Link here.
- 2020–04. McKinsey & Company. “Understanding the Hidden Costs of Covid-19s Potential Impact on US Healthcare.” Link here.
- 2020–04. Journal of Translational Medicine. Vicente, Astrid et al. “How Personalized Medicine Will Transform Healthcare by 2030: the ICPerMed Vision”. Link here.
- National Human Genome Research Institute. Collins, Frances. “Personalized Medicine”. Link here.
