Pointed Health Solutions: The End of an Era or Just the Tip of the Iceberg? 🧊

Almost every LinkedIn scroll session reveals yet another health tech company, each vying for a competitive place in a crowded market often yielding a "huh?", "you do what?” or “how has no one else done that yet?!” Unless you have time to dig deeper and glean what it is they are aiming to do, these new company finds can be exciting and discombobulating at the same time. With roughly 6,000 hospitals in the U.S. and each hospital averaging hundreds of software vendors, the opportunity is enormous and raises an important question: What actually drives a decision to purchase and adopt a health tech solution? Sometimes it’s the need to fix a specific workflow; other times it’s a strategic move toward a broader platform approach. So, in today’s market, are pointed solutions nearing the end of their era, or are we only seeing the tip of the iceberg? 🧊 The answer depends on the pain points being addressed…

 …and how convincingly solutions can demonstrate they solve those pain points at scale.

In reality, the answer sits somewhere in the middle. Platform solutions aim to solve problems across multiple use cases, while pointed solutions are laser-focused on one particular challenge. For context you can think of:

• Point solution: this alert tells me my patient is at risk of falling, a solution like this can have an EMR overlay (AKA integration) from vendors such as CarePredict (but wait, can’t we sniff out a fall risk patient from a mile away? Possibly–but that’s up to CarePredict to convince a hospital there’s an opportunity!) 

• Platform solution: this is the system I work within. The quickest example is the EMR, this initiates most work completed during a shift. Voalte is another example of a platform solution–solving communications siloes between providers and patients. 

As hospitals look to make wiser, more cost-effective purchases the market for tech solutions is shifting. Companies that cannot clearly articulate and demonstrate their value around specific, high-friction pain points are at substantial risk of failure. To survive, vendors need a crisp narrative supported by data that resonates with clinicians and empowers decision makers. In other words, simplify, simplify, simplify. Clarity is key and buzzwords are tired. Bean blankies and “workflow automation” seem to have something in common

Let’s take a look at the current market dynamics shaping the future for both platform and point solutions.

1. Differentiation is hard and operational strain is real.

The explosion of point solutions has made differentiation challenging and decision-making burdensome. IT teams are overwhelmed, hesitant to prioritize new projects that stretch already lean resources. Every new tool imposes an “operational tax”—from onboarding and data feeds to training and governance. And when solutions are purchased by teams lacking domain expertise, execution suffers. A hospital acquires a new tool, but no one knows how to operationalize it. The result? Confusion, workflow disruption, and frustrated clinicians, an especially dangerous combination in an already burnt-out workforce. This not only hurts the hospital; it poses a major risk to the vendor’s long-term success. Siloed use cases and unclear value propositions often lead to poor adoption and limited return on investment (ROI).

2. The market is correcting and buyers are raising the bar.

Hospitals are scrutinizing expenditures more rigorously, forming AI governance committees, and holding vendors to higher standards. Vendors can no longer win deals by presenting sensitivity and specificity metrics upfront and calling it a day. They’re expected to show ongoing model performance and real value throughout the lifecycle. This market correction impacts both point and platform solutions.

Platform solutions face unique challenges: long implementation timelines, unclear internal ownership, and the risk of trying to be everything to everyone. Point solutions face the opposite challenge: hospitals increasingly prefer consolidation but will still invest when the ROI is clear, defensible, and measurable. Oh the peace of not having executive decision making power! 

Examples of Companies Navigating the Market Well

Point Solution: Jaide Health

Jaide Health, co-founded by Nurse Entreprenuer Julie Wilner, is a point solution offering real-time medical interpretation and translation. It’s incredibly niche, incredibly needed, and universally applicable across departments. Though a point solution, it solves a well-defined problem with immediate clinical and compliance implications. Their traction is evidenced by partnerships with Cambridge Health Alliance and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and $2.5M in funding. Clearly, the market is listening (no pun intended). The key questions ahead: Can ROI be clearly measured? Will users adopt quickly? Strategic selling and flawless implementation will be critical.

Platform Solution: Innovaccer
On the platform side, Innovaccer positions itself as “The AI Cloud for Healthcare Performance.” At first glance, the breadth gives you that “huh??” response, an inherent challenge for platform companies. But once understood, the value becomes clear: a reusable infrastructure that activates data across clinical and business use cases. But with complexity comes risk: long sales cycles, slower implementations, and customer expectations that the platform “do everything.” Success here requires precise product scope, disciplined execution, and strong ownership across customer teams.

My View? 

Overall, my view is there will always be a place for point solutions. There’s simply some problems that are too niche to solve without deep expertise. In my word–actionable incidental findings are a prime example. You must have a deep understanding of how to identify findings (striking the right balance between casting a broad net but not so broad that there’s non-actionable findings). More importantly, you have to do something with the patients identified. One of the biggest pitfalls of an AI-enabled software is the inability to operationalize its output (see “operational strain” above). Without the ability to operationalize it, how do you define its success or failures? This is where point solutions have an advantage– the ability to dedicate resources to understanding and executing a solution so well for a high impact pain point and offer tools to operationalize. Products such as patient management solutions are key in managing AI outputs of patients. Companies that do this well are winning against EMR giants because guess what? EMRs aren’t built for longitudinal patient cohort management. An app specifically designed for clinicians to curate and manage a cohort of patients AND provide a dashboard of related analytics? That’s a winner. 🥇

Look at a company like Viz.ai (also clinician co-founded!). This is a point solution targeting time sensitive alerts based on imaging results (stroke, PE, aortic disease etc.) Interestingly, Viz.ai has evolved to multiple use cases and added layers of strength such as care coordination such that it can proposition itself as a point solution but when necessary, play the platform card. 

Healthcare software buyers aren’t shifting toward platforms or pointed solutions → it’s evolving toward fit-for-purpose solutions that deliver real, measurable value. Point solutions will thrive when they address a critical, disruptive pain point with clarity and precision. Platforms will win when they can simplify complexity and drive enterprise-wide ROI without overwhelming the organizations they serve. As the market matures, the winners won’t be determined by whether they’re “point” or “platform,” but by how effectively they solve the problems that matter most. In that sense, we’re not witnessing the end of an era, just the beginning of a more disciplined, value-driven one.