sunila levi - healthtech marketing guest speaker

Healthtech Marketing Podcast – The Healthcare Technology Buyer’s Perspective – Sunila Levi

In this engaging Healthtech Marketing podcast, Sunila Levi, a long-time Healthcare Technology Executive with a vast experience in different parts of the US healthcare systems, talks about Healthcare Information Technology from the buyer’s perspective.

Sunila speaks to Adam Turinas, the CEO & Founder of healthlaunchpad. The podcast comes to you courtesy of HIMMSS in partnership with healthlaunchpad.

Key Podcast Highlights

The podcast’ discussion focuses on the following:

  1. Differences between public and private Healthcare Sectors
  2. How State Sector & Private Organizations Buy Healthcare Technology
  3. How Integral Care or Small Healthcare Organizations Buy Technology
  4. Trusted sources for vendor information and advice
  5. What marketers get right and get wrong
  6. How to reach IT executives like Sunila

Video Podcast: HIT Buyer’s Perspective – Sunila Levi

3:22 – The Key Differences Between Private & Public Healthtech Sectors   

Having worked in both the non-profit private sector and public healthcare sector, Sunila highlights the main differences in the following areas:

  1. Nature of Services
  2. Operational Partnerships
  3. Operational Budgets
  4. Scope of Management

6:28 – How The Public & Large Healthcare Organizations Buy Technology 

Further in the podcast, Sunila Levi provides insights on how both sectors approach the technology buying process based on her experience in both the private and public healthcare sectors.

She explains the processes that public and private organizations must adhere to when purchasing healthcare technology.

So, she points out that technology buying is not a simple process and goes ahead to explain that:

  1. Buying is based on processes
  2. The state relies on clear structures and the Department of Information Resource Agency (DIR) for vendor identification.
  3. There is a website listing vetted vendors – whitelisted and Blacklisted vendors.
  4. Vendors can also work under primary or secondary vetted vendors
  5. Private organizations have vendor management offices to rely on
  6. Selling to large healthcare organizations can take between 3 to 6 months, while in the public sector, the process can take up to 1 year or more.

In the podcast, Sunila discusses her experience with integral carriers and Mental Health organization as a case study.

In particular, she shares about the Suicide Prevention Service in Texas covering Austin and surrounding areas.

She points out that selling to such small organizations requires that they get someone like herself to take the vendors through the buying process. 

Sunila further reveals that there are qualified dealers to help the local agencies or organizations with their healthcare technology purchasing requirements or processes.

15: 38 – How To Be Up-to-date With Healthcare Technology Trends

Healthcare technology is dynamic, there is a need to be aware of new trends.

And in the podcast, Sunila talks about how she relies on health technology Magazines such as Becker’s magazines to be well-informed about new technological changes within the sector.

She mentions Gartner and Forrester as the key sources of information on health technology vendors.

16: 32 – Sunila Levi On Healthcare Vendors  Get Right or Wrong When Selling To Organizations.

Sunila also reveals that she gets an average of 10 emails and cold calls per day. 

Two of the ten emails she receives relate to their current challenges.

So, from her perspective, cold-pitching is not ineffective.

However, for better results, she recommends combining it with other strategies. 

For instance, she then talks of the benefits of healthcare vendors bringing together the healthcare organization leaders such as the CIOs, CSOs, and CFOs to understand their challenges.

Through this, they can easily nurture relationships and build trust instead of directly pushing for sales.

21:33 – Sunila Levi’s Advice – Lessons Learned. 

Finally, at the end of the podcast, Sunila shares the following as some of the key lessons she has learned:

  • To lead others, you must learn to lead yourself by being motivated
  • The need to be curious and willing to learn
  • Never assume you know everything
  • Don’t take yourself seriously. Don’t be closed, be open

Podcast Subscription

If you are listening, you can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your other channels.

 Other Relevant Links:

Posted by Adam Turinas
Posted in Healthtech Marketing Podcast on November 16, 2022

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About the Author Adam Turinas

Hi, I am Adam Turinas, Healthlaunchpad's founder. I am passionate about helping healthtech firms succeed through better sales and marketing. I have hard-earned experience in healthcare technolgy as I started two healthcare businesses in the US, the first with zero healthcare experience. We sold the second business to a strategic buyer seven years later. Over 9 years building a healhtech businesses, I have learned how to sell and market effectively to healthcare organizations. Prior to this, I spent two decades in digital marketing across healthcare and other consumer industries where I sold over $100 million in products and services to corporations and healthcare orgs. I would love to talk with you. You can book a call with me on the right hand side. Best Adam (This is page 0 of many)

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