It's a platform for connecting two worlds that don't know each other very well: that of medical care and that of innovation in health. This is a booming field, at all levels, from biotechnology to nursing. Ideas are coming, but for them to become reality, innovators need to rely on the expertise of future users.
Hack Your Care connects caregivers with health innovation actors, including companies. We check whether their profiles and availability can be matched with the needs. Our approach goes even further: it consists of mentoring these care providers on the legal level, on questions of remuneration, etc. The most sought-after profiles are those of hospital physicians. However, they have no business culture, or awareness on the rates of a consultant, or the legal status to be taken.
The range is wide. As far as caregivers are concerned, we are looking for a variety of profiles: physicians, dentists, nurses, physiotherapists, midwives, pharmacists, radio operators, ambulance staff, care assistants, etc. We already have a large pool of general practitioners and specialists, but also dentists and nurses. If a medical student wants to do a thesis on AI in their specialty, they can also contact us.
As for companies, they range from start-ups to multinationals, from those designing medical devices to those working on data or looking for beta testers to evaluate an app. We also get requests from insurance companies, universities and engineering schools.
Recently, we gave a young GP her first assignment as assistant to a startup’s medical director. She wanted to work remotely in addition to her work as a locum. In another case, a startup CEO wanted to identify the most relevant speciality to guide his medical prescription support solution. He asked us to organise brainstorming sessions with ten physicians from different specialities, whose profiles corresponded to future users: not very technophile, but not hostile to digital technology. These physicians were first given a brief training on artificial intelligence.
At the request of university laboratories, I also help master-level students to find internships in startups. This encourages them to do research, which is an essential step towards a career in a university hospital.
Both from an observation and from my personal experience. The observation is that health and business are two worlds that are culturally very far apart. The concept of "doctor-entrepreneur" is still taboo, as if such an association were unnatural.
At the same time, health professionals are keen on innovation. Who hasn't thought: "We could create an application to meet such and such a need? We are seeing more multi-skilled profiles, such as physician-coders. This capacity for innovation is becoming a kind of emerging medical speciality.
Some carers simply want to open up to new perspectives, either because they are tired of deteriorating working conditions or to better reconcile their professional and personal lives. These people are tempted by a corporate experience but do not know how to access it. It is not a question of giving up care and patients, but of taking a step aside, for example during the time of an assignment.
During my medical thesis, I joined a startup specialising in artificial intelligence and therapeutic monitoring. Afterwards, during my residency, some residents asked me how I had done it. They said to me: "You make us dream! Although they were young and innovation-oriented, it seemed difficult to them to take the step. With Hack Your Care, we don't offer them a dream, we open the doors to the world of innovation.