In the medical industry, innovation is not enough. Even the most advanced and cutting-edge technology can prove useless if it doesn’t address the real needs of its users — both patients and medical staff. This is where the key concept of product-market fit comes in.
Product-market fit refers to aligning a product with the market — that is, the point at which a medical technology meets specific, well-defined needs of its users. It’s the moment when doctors genuinely want to use the solution we offer because it improves their work, and patients do so because it enhances their quality of life and treatment outcomes.
In medicine, technology must be tailored to the clinical reality. That’s why the question every healthcare innovator should ask isn’t “Is this innovative?” but rather:
Does this truly help the people who will use it?
The most common pitfalls for medical innovators:
📌 Technology for technology’s sake
Too often, a product is developed in a lab, with no contact with real users. The result? An advanced solution that’s unintuitive or not adapted to the conditions in which it will be used — e.g., hospital environments, users’ skills or technical capabilities, or healthcare system realities like the National Health Fund (NFZ) in Poland.
📌 Too broad of a need
“We want to improve healthcare quality” — a noble goal, but too vague to build a functioning solution around. The key is to define the problem precisely — for example, reducing the waiting time for X-ray result analysis in the ER by 30%.
📌 Lack of market validation
If feedback only appears after the final product is released — it’s already too late. The development process must involve users from the very beginning.
What should be done to achieve product-market fit in the medical industry?
🔍 Deep needs assessment
It’s not just about surveys. You need to talk, ask end-users about their pain points, visit hospital wards, and understand clinical processes “behind the scenes.” Sometimes the most important needs go unspoken — and the key to innovation lies in the details.
🧪 Early and frequent testing
Prototypes, MVPs, user testing — let doctors and patients influence the product from day one. Their experience is an invaluable filter.
🤝 Co-creation with users
Instead of building for the user, build with the user. Co-creation — with patients, doctors, clinical engineers, and healthcare facility managers — helps create real solutions that fit into the work context and system limitations.
📊 Measurable outcomes
Numbers help prove value. You must be able to answer specific questions: Does it work? Does it reduce costs? Does it shorten diagnosis/treatment time? Does it decrease the number of errors?, etc.