Thought Leaders in Healthcare IT: Brian Phillips, CEO of MedShift (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Why is your technology just being applied to the medical aesthetic market? It sounds like the value proposition can be applied to any kind of medical instrumentation. Is that not true?

Brian Phillips: That is true. We happen to operate our business within the aesthetic arena. It is a tight arena. We buy a lot of these devices ourselves and utilize them in the delivery of our services. This year, we will spend $20 million acquiring these devices for our use. It makes sense that we build the technology that would enhance the visibility of those devices. That is how this began.

There is no reason that the platform that we have built could not apply to something else. Let’s say it’s air-conditioning or any other device. There is no reason why we cannot apply and utilize the platform that we developed outside of medical devices. 

Sramana Mitra: How big is your company?

Brian Phillips: We have about 30 employees. We just crossed over $10 million in revenue in 2020. 

Sramana Mitra: When you said you bought $20 million worth of equipment, what does that mean?

Brian Phillips: We buy those devices, and we place them into subscription agreements that range from three to five years. The $20 million of device acquisition over five years will generate around $30 million to $35 million of revenues. 

Sramana Mitra: Switching gears, what are the open problems in your industry sector that you see but are not working on solving? The reason that I ask this question is that we have a large readership amongst entrepreneurs who are always looking for problems to solve. 

Brian Phillips: There are quite a few inefficiencies specific to medical aesthetics that I have noticed. They are continual problems that could be solved if someone wants to spend the time and energy to do it.

If you are a plastic surgeon or a dermatologist and you are opening a new practice, it’s complex to build the marketing plan related to the patient base that you are going after. You are always having to refine your capabilities and the way you are trying to attract your patients. That is a difficult configuration. There are not a lot of people focusing on that sector of the business.

There are a lot of general marketing firms doing things for all sorts of clients, but there is not a lot focusing specifically on the aesthetics arena of which there are probably 100,000 to 120,000 providers in the United States that pay for services in the form of patient acquisition. 

Sramana Mitra: You are saying that marketing the equipment to these 120,000 providers is the gap? 

Brian Phillips: It’s marketing to the patients. 

Sramana Mitra: I see. The customer base is between 100,000 to 120,000 medical aesthetic providers and the gap is in the marketing of their services to the patients. 

Brian Phillips: Correct. It’s getting that information out there clearly and disseminating that. You can turn on the TV and have an infomercial running 24 hours a day guaranteeing that fat can be reduced by taking a pill. The wide spectrum is that the patient is receiving the information in a scenario like that versus a Stanford-educated dermatologist or plastic surgeon discussing the use of devices to get the outcome that the patient is looking for.

You have this broad range of information. Some of it is there to take advantage of the patients and the other to give patients factual and accurate data. 

Sramana Mitra: Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 3 in the series : Thought Leaders in Healthcare IT: Brian Phillips, CEO of MedShift
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