Healthcare is a major industry that is always growing and changing. With such a large, growing population, it makes sense to get into this field — people will always need care. Healthcare startups can (and do) make a difference all over the world.
Now that you’re ready to create your own company, you need to find your niche. Fortunately, there are a lot of different areas of healthcare that can use your innovation. We’ve curated a list of healthcare startup ideas to help out.
Best Healthcare Ideas for Startups
The healthcare industry has been changing, so take advantage of the advances in technology or the population’s growing needs to find your perfect business endeavor. Here are some startup ideas to consider.
1. Automated Medical Billing Software
One of the biggest problems for medical offices, hospitals, and clinics is the billing aspect of patient care. Of course, they want to get paid, but they surely have better things to attend to.
One area you may want to invest your time in as you think about your startup is automated medical billing software. This kind of billing software can handle sending out bills, marking off when people pay, and more, so the office stays organized and spends less time on billing and invoicing tasks.
2. Telehealth Platform
With patients scattered all over the world, there has never been a better time to look into telehealth. As a telehealth startup, you can bring patients together with providers without having to have them meet in the office.
For people who struggle to get care near them, telehealth can be a (literal) lifesaver. You can make your service a niche service, such as a behavioral health platform, or go into general healthcare.
3. Pet Care App
We can’t forget about pets! They also need care, just like humans do. Unfortunately, there aren’t as many options for pet owners to reach out to if their pets are ill.
Your company can take advantage of the gap in pet healthcare by offering your own services through a pet care app. This kind of technology can offer educational materials, access to veterinarians and pet trainers, and other helpful tools.
4. Telemedicine and Remote Patient Monitoring
Not all patients need to come into the office all the time. For example, maybe a doctor has a patient who is relatively healthy but who has to call in for refills on their medications. The best choice for them might be to go with telemedicine and remote monitoring.
With telemedicine as your goal, you’ll help people avoid long waits in doctors’ offices and make sure patients get care (and the monitoring they need) from home.
5. Herb Bar
Not everyone wants to rely on Western medicine, meaning you can find your place in the herb and apothecary market if that’s something that interests you.
As an herb bar, you can sell all kinds of products ranging from echinacea to St. John’s wort to those who are interested in alternative therapies. You might sell to alternative medicine practitioners, massage therapists, or even individuals.
6. Newborn and Post-Pregnancy Services
Once a mother leaves the hospital with her child, she often doesn’t see her provider again for a few weeks. While she needs time to recover, she may be left with questions and concerns over that time frame.
Your startup can help families after welcoming a new child. Consider offering nursing services or connecting midwives with women coming home from the hospital. Whether you create a telehealth or in-person service, it will help those in a precarious time of life.
7. Skincare Center
Does your business model lend well to seeing people in person? If so, why not consider opening a skincare center?
When you build a skincare center, you can focus on taking care of common complaints like wrinkles or acne. Alternatively, offer services for a more niche market, such as only for women over 50 or for men with skincare concerns.
8. Personal Fitness Instructor
Fitness is often at the top of people’s minds, but not everyone takes advantage of existing fitness options. That means there is an opening in this market for your startup.
Creating an app or studio for a personal fitness instructor is an option. You could pair up clients with specific fitness instructors based on their ages or backgrounds, or you could create a walk-in personal fitness option that is new in your region.
9. Yoga Studio
Your company doesn’t have to be enormous to be successful. Something as simple as opening a yoga studio could lead to a financial windfall.
To do well in a yoga studio, consider hiring out the space for yoga instructors to bring in monthly rent when you’re not running your own classes. You can also sell products in-house, allowing you to boost your income overall.
10. Research-Based Biopharmaceutical Business
There is always a need for scientists and laboratory research, which is why starting a venture in research-based biopharmaceuticals could be right for you. Your business could thrive if you have the scientific background to help people test chemical combinations or new skincare lines.
If you run a research-based lab, reach out to local cosmetic companies and small businesses—they may be looking for your services.
11. Medical and Laboratory Services
Medical companies, as well as hospitals, clinics, and research facilities, always need help with running lab tests and reports. Starting a medical lab business could help you get into the market and make a difference with your business.
You’ll need to decide what kinds of tests you want to run in your lab. Will you work with pathologists? What about drug testing? Make your decisions before you get going.
12. Patient Scheduling Software
One of the greatest plagues on a medical office is scheduling patients. They need to put down enough patients to stay busy, but they don’t want overlap or long wait times.
Creating patient scheduling software could help. Your startup could create software to keep offices moving so patients are happy and providers see as many people as possible each day.
13. Women’s Well-Being App
Self-help and wellness are things that many people have been becoming more interested in. You can take advantage of the market by building an app that helps with women’s health and well-being.
There are many niche areas in this field. For example, you can make an app to assist with getting pregnant, one that tracks nutrition, or one that tracks a user’s monthly menstrual cycle.
14. Health Courses
Private tutors, medical schools, and others need health courses that they can use to train their students. You can help by putting together courses that help train the best of the best.
To make it in this market, remember that you will need to work with professionals who are educated in the courses you want to put together. For example, you may need experts on staff as well as curriculum specialists.
15. Medical Newsletter
Who doesn’t want to be updated on the latest and greatest changes in the medical field? If you want to help consumers stay up to date on new medical devices or you plan to help providers learn more about the newest research articles, your business may want to focus on writing a medical newsletter.
Alternatively, become a startup that helps manage newsletters created by providers or researchers. Whether you offer templates or help build email lists, you’ll help keep the news flowing.
16. Optical Frame Business
Did you know that around 164 million people wear glasses in the US alone? That’s a huge market of people who may need new frames for their glasses annually, if not sooner.
Your venture can take advantage of this growing population of people who wear glasses. Come up with a unique idea, such as creating interchangeable frames or frames made with rare materials, and you could find your business popular with glasses-wearers.
17. CPR Training
CPR training is an essential step for people going into a variety of fields. Think about it—new lifeguards, firefighters, teachers, and many others need to have CPR training.
If you can create a company that helps design training materials or that will come on location to teach CPR, you could find yourself in high demand. CPR-related tools and techniques are always necessary, and your next product could be a game-changer.
18. Nutritional App
Fitness and health are two sides of the same coin and require a lot of attention from people. It can be hard to understand nutrition and how diets affect you, though.
That’s where your company can come in to help. Consider making a nutritional app as your business. You can make an app to track nutrition, design nutritional plans, or connect people with dieticians who can help establish their perfect diet.
19. Medical Wear Boutique
Medical providers are often required to wear scrubs, jackets, and special gloves, hats, and masks, but sometimes those outfits can look a bit boring. People in these fields are often looking for more comfortable, more unique designs.
Opening a medical wear boutique puts you in a position to clothe the people who spend much of their time helping others. You can even find your niche within this area—consider something like warmer scrubs for surgery or specialized outfits that are easy to get on or remove if exposed to toxins or blood.
20. Juice Bar
If there is one thing that is true, it’s that people will always need to have something to eat and drink. With a juice bar, you can take advantage of those needs and make a little money, too.
Your startup could be a juice bar that offers a variety of smoothies and juice drinks. For example, you could juice fresh vegetables, or you could opt to juice-specific formulas heavy in protein, carbohydrates, or fats. To set yourself apart, try creating new drink mixes, using unusual ingredients, or placing your bar in an area where people don’t usually have access to one.
21. Health Blogging
Not all startups have to cost a lot of money to start with. If you aren’t flush with cash but want to open your business soon, you could consider health blogging. Health blogging could involve writing your own opinions, gathering and promoting research, or helping medical providers write to their own audiences.
This field is expansive. To get started, you may need to have a medical background or a good working knowledge of science and technology.
22. Nosologist Coding
Nosologist coding deals with arranging, describing, cataloging, and classifying diseases. It’s important for accurate clinical coding to take place because, without it, it would be impossible to gather quality data.
A nosologist coding startup works with medical providers and researchers to correctly catalog syndromes, diseases, and ailments. Your company could connect nosologists to medical professionals, or it could work with coding assistant technology. There are plenty of approaches.
23. Health Show
Online or television-based health programs provide a solid education in health topics while entertaining those who watch them. As your startup plans come to fruition, you might want to consider building your own television health program.
To make this work, you’ll need to have a working knowledge of screen presence and putting together episodes of health programming. You’ll also need a solid research department.
24. Health Insurance Company
Health insurance helps people save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars each year. The insurance provider takes a monthly payment in exchange for each person’s protection, and when people need care, the insurance company pays out to cover at least a portion of those costs.
You can create a health insurance company as your startup. You can work in a specific health niche, such as offering add-on care for behavioral health or working with pet insurance.