We have more healthcare data than ever, but the problem is accessing it. That’s because the data for any one person is often stored in a variety of formats on several different computer systems. Troy Bannister joins Startup Savants to talk about his health tech startup Particle Health, which aims to address this issue.
- Startup Savants is a business podcast that tells the stories behind up-and-coming startups.
- Troy Bannister joins Startup Savants to discuss launching his healthtech startup Particle Health.
- Particle Health is a startup solving a significant problem in the healthcare industry: the lack of usable, accessible healthcare data.
Solving a Long-Standing Problem
Bannister co-founded Particle Health in 2018 to solve a thorny problem that bedevils the US healthcare system: a lack of healthcare data that are both usable by and accessible to ordinary consumers. This problem results largely from the fact that hospitals and healthcare networks employ a variety of data storage solutions that use many different formats and don’t interlink. As a result, transferring data from one system to another is often difficult or impossible.
Having worked as an EMT and in the healthcare VC space, Bannister was all too familiar with this dilemma. “When I looked back on my whole career, I just saw this consistent issue where no matter where I was in the ambulance, the hospital, doing research, or working with entrepreneurs, nobody had access to clinical data,” he said during his interview with Startup Savants. “The best option was the fax machine, and still is funny enough today. I thought, ‘This is a problem worth solving.’ I jumped in and put my boots to the ground and started going.”
Secure Access Point
Particle Health has developed a modern API (application program interface) platform that unifies more than 270 million patient records from across the US. The company’s API provides one secure, easy-to-use data access point for consumers. Developers can use the data for new healthcare products, services, and solutions.
Although Particle Health has had some early success, Bannister and his team want to see sustainable growth over the long term. He told Startup Savant that means forgoing a “growth at all cost” business model in favor of one that focuses on incremental goals.
“The priority now is, how do we turn this into a really healthy business, as opposed to a growth at all cost business?” he said during his interview. “We’re going to go for really healthy steps towards really healthy business metrics … The good thing is, we have a really awesome leadership team that’s been around the block before. We already have a bunch of systems in place that can accommodate for a lot more people on the team … I think we have a really good foundation right now to double the size.”
Startup Savants Podcast
The Startup Savants podcast is a business podcast created by The Really Useful Information Company (TRUiC). Listeners can hear the stories behind startups, as told by their founders, who are in the midst of growing their companies.
Ethan, an entrepreneur, and Annaka, a branding expert, host the Startup Savants podcast. They bring disparate skills and life experiences to their interviews, providing listeners with important business insights and a holistic perspective on the startup ecosystem.
Hear from a variety of real startup founders from around the globe and with varying backgrounds about making their startup ideas a reality. Learn from experts sharing their industry knowledge on venture capital, securing funding, and more on the Startup Savants podcast.
Final Thoughts
In his interview with Startup Savants, Troy Bannister takes listeners on his journey of founding Particle Health and the lessons he has learned as the company has grown.
You can find the Startup Savants podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.