EDITORIAL

Colorado Leads An Anemic Nation in Medical Entrepreneurs

By Bernard Guiot, MD
Chairman, Medical BackBone Board of Advisors

For an individual physician to have an idea for a new medical device, treatment or service and shepherd that concept from thought to patient bedside is next to impossible in this day and age.

Physician entrepreneurs must run a daunting gauntlet of legal, financial, manufacturing, regulatory, administrative and marketing obstacles that by comparison make medical school and residency seem like a pleasant day of golf.

Indeed, the culture and values of medicine in our nation are not conducive to grassroots health care innovation – which is a true shame, seeing as physician entrepreneurs represent a rich reservoir of largely untapped potential.

Despite the extraordinarily long odds, some doctors and other health care providers do persist and prevail – and in the process they demonstrate a model pathway for delivering better patient care at lower costs.

Colorado is blessed to serve as home to a disproportionate number of physician entrepreneurs.  Ranging from web applications that help patients connect to the right physician and hospital, to state-of-the-art prevention and diagnostic clinics, doctors in our state have conceived and successful executed patient-oriented businesses that have changed the face of medicine nationally. 

Moreover, the Centennial State has given rise to a global association of doctors and health care providers who are helping one another overcome the hurdles encountered by independent medical innovators.

The Society of Physician Entrepreneurs, founded in 2008, now boasts nearly 2,500 members in 16 global chapters.  The group, known as SoPE, was the brainchild of a Denver otolaryngologist, Dr. Arlen D. Meyers, who serves as its president and CEO.

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