{"id":6775,"date":"2025-07-08T09:21:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T09:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=6775"},"modified":"2025-07-08T09:21:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T09:21:00","slug":"henry-ford-the-model-t-and-digital-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=6775","title":{"rendered":"Henry Ford, the Model T, and Digital Health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By TREVOR VAN MIERLO<\/p>\n

Most of us know the story of the Model T \u2013 but what\u2019s often overlooked is how it applies to other industries, especially digital health. Let\u2019s revisit:<\/p>\n

In the early 1900s cars were custom built. You\u2019d meet with a consultant, design the car, place your order, and wait for months for delivery. Once your car was delivered, it was difficult to operate. Many owners hired chauffeurs because at the time, cars required technical know-how, constant maintenance, and a fair bit of strength (power steering wouldn\u2019t arrive for decades).<\/p>\n

Then came the Model T in 1908, which led to Ford developing his assembly line in 1913. He recognized a problem in the industry and saw an opportunity. He saw the opportunity for scale:<\/p>\n

Standardization:<\/strong> \u201cAny color, as long as it\u2019s black<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n

Mass production = affordability:<\/strong> Prices dropped from $850 in 1908 to $300 within a decade<\/p>\n

Accessible ownership: <\/strong>anyone could walk<\/em> into a Ford dealership and drive<\/em> away\u00a0<\/p>\n

Left: Early car assembly (pre-Ford) Right: A leading digital health interface, 2000<\/em><\/p>\n

On the right side of the above image is a cutting-edge digital health program from August 2000. I know it well \u2013 because I helped build it. Since then, I\u2019ve worked on well over 100 digital health interventions. Probably closer to 200. Here\u2019s the thing: what\u2019s inside hasn\u2019t changed very much. Behavioral science doesn\u2019t move that quickly (although my recent work in AI is changing that<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n

And yes \u2013 digital interventions look better, are easier to navigate, and coding languages have evolved \u2013 but practically, digital health is still building custom cars \u2013 not Model Ts. That\u2019s why tens of millions can\u2019t open a browser and get the help they need.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Blocking Digital Health\u2019s Model T Moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Enterprise Sales (Death by Pipeline): <\/strong>Most digital health tools are sold through enterprise channels: RFPs, procurement departments, tenders, security reviews, and legal teams. The average sales cycle is 6-18 months. That\u2019s fine for a $5M contract, but it\u2019s lethal for a $50,000 contract. The problem isn\u2019t the product \u2013 it\u2019s the process.<\/p>\n

2. The Vanishing Champion:<\/strong> I\u2019ve experienced this dozens of times, and I\u2019ve taken deep breaths watching it unfold on webinars: a digital health company demos their solution alongside a client champion. Priorities shift. The champion leaves. The reference project dies. Most contracts aren\u2019t lost on merit \u2013 they\u2019re lost to turnover<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

3. Healthcare Pricing \u2260 Software Pricing: <\/strong>Most patient-facing tools are priced like services, not products. That\u2019s a symptom of the enterprise sales trap. Vendors charge annual fees regardless of usage. Clients expect hand-holding for these custom products. Pricing needs to reflect modern SaaS models \u2013 freemium, tiered access, per-user billing.<\/p>\n

4. Static Products in a Dynamic World: <\/strong>Consumer software updates weekly \u2013 sometimes daily. Digital health tools? They launch, then stall. Feedback loops are weak. There\u2019s no culture of iteration, and no expectation of continuous improvement.<\/p>\n

5. Nobody Markets to the User: <\/strong>The best-designed tools fail if no one uses them. Lack of engagement is a systemic issue<\/strong><\/a>, yet many programs are launched without onboarding plans, email campaigns, or even prewritten content for TikTok<\/strong><\/a> or Instagram<\/strong><\/a>. Users don\u2019t know what the tool is, why they received access to it, how they access it, or how it fits into their care. That\u2019s not a product issue \u2013 it\u2019s a marketing failure.<\/p>\n

We Need to Build the Systems, Not Just the Tool<\/strong><\/p>\n

Henry Ford didn\u2019t invent the automobile, but he\u2019s remembered because he built a system. He looked beyond the engine, the chassis, and the tires. He focused on standardization<\/strong>, distribution<\/strong>, and access<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Digital health needs the same. Right now, too many solutions are trapped in a loop \u2013 custom-built for small populations, sold through enterprise channels, with no realistic path to scale.<\/p>\n

The Good News? We\u2019re Close<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cloud infrastructure, AI, and behaviorally intelligent platforms are finally catching up. We can now personalize at scale, launch instantly, track engagement in real time, and iterate fast. But to get there, we have to let go of the custom-built carriage mindset and embrace the assembly line<\/strong>. That\u2019s not a compromise in quality \u2013 it\u2019s a commitment to reach.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need more pilots \u2013 we need platforms.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need more bespoke builds \u2013 we need scale.<\/p>\n

Digital health doesn\u2019t have a technology<\/strong> problem \u2013 it has a delivery problem<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Until we achieve that, we\u2019re just making nicer carriages \u2013 while the world waits for its Model T.<\/p>\n

Dr. Trevor van Mierlo has built mental health and patient support products for more than two decades and is the CEO of\u00a0Evolution Health<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By TREVOR VAN MIERLO Most of us know the story of the Model T \u2013 but what\u2019s often overlooked is how it applies to other industries, especially digital health. Let\u2019s revisit: In the early 1900s cars were custom built. You\u2019d meet with a consultant, design the car, place your order, and wait for months for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}