​Background

Although digital health is not novel, its use skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic when it became a necessary tool to extend care and treatment while maintaining social distancing. Perhaps the easiest way to conceptualize digital health is as the intersection of healthcare and technology, and for the scope of this study, digital health is technology used to provide, support, deliver, and enable health. Digital health solutions are often funded by Venture Capital firms (VCs), which play a critical role in identifying and funding innovative startups including those whose seek to improve population health by reducing health disparities. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the systemic inequities within the US healthcare system, it also brought attention to the barriers that prevent people from accessing digital health solutions, examined who is developing digital health solutions, and explored where venture capital investment dollars are flowing.

 

Problem

Venture Capital (VC), which has not operated with equity in mind, was not immune to the racial reckoning of 2020. Since then, there’s been increase in attention on whom VC is funding and in VCs seeking to impact health equity. As such, it’s important to identify whether and how VC investments can advance health equity, where health equity is an outcome – everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. A gap in literature exists at this intersection of health equity and VC investments. There is limited research on the role and impact of VCs and their investments in digital health on health equity, and no studies have explored this phenomenon with a mixed methods approach.

 

Study Aims

The purpose of this study is to identify whether and how venture capital investments can advance health equity. The study will follow a three-paper manuscript format and aims to answer the following questions:

1. How do VCs define health equity within the context of investing or impact investing? (Methodology: Survey)

2. What is the role of health equity in the due diligence / investment decision-making process? A sub aim will seek to identify strategies, frameworks, or approaches, if any, used to measure the impact of the investment decision? (Methodology: In-depth Interviews)

3. What is the impact on health equity of the investments in digital health solutions? (Methodology: Case Studies)