Physician Builder Spotlight: Justin Schrager, Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Vital

Since receiving an incredible response to our post about why more physicians should start companies, we've been shining a light on MD-entrepreneurs. Each week, we're featuring someone who's building a cool product or company that you definitely want to know about. Last week, we featured Dr. Michel Abdel Malek, founder/CEO of Delphyr. This week, we have Dr. Justin Schrager, the founder and Chief Medical Officer of Vital. Know someone else who should be featured? Reply in the comments or let us know directly! (theresa@offcall.com)

1. What inspired you to become a physician-entrepreneur?

Justin Schrager: I like to solve problems and what better problem to solve than the modernization of patient communication. I became an entrepreneur because I saw it as the only realistic way to enact the change I wanted. I would be lying if I said that the discomfort of taking on financial and professional risk by stepping outside of the traditional path of an academic physician was not a deterrent, but, in the end, the opportunity was too great and alternative paths all seemed to lead to the status quo. My inspiration then and my inspiration now are no different–I am fortunate to lead a mission driven organization and to build cool things that magnify the parts of clinical care that I value most: compassion, connection, and communication.

2. Tell us about what your company does and the problem you're trying to solve.

Vital creates elegant, user-friendly software that provides personalized guidance to patients in the hospital and Emergency Department. Our goal is to modernize patient communication systems to improve clinical understanding, experience, and care ownership.

Vital is sold under a software-as-a-service model to hospitals and health systems seeking to enhance patient communication. This results in happier and better informed patients, improved clinical and operational outcomes, and reduced staff burden.

Patients access Vital through their smartphones at key times during their stay to better understand their care journey. Our intelligent AI system anticipates questions before they arise–from predicting ED wait times to summarizing all the clinical information for an inpatient stay, and pairing test results with educational content. It is a broad and feature-rich platform designed to work in all care areas equally well.

Our patient-focused design achieves at least 60% utilization, which is 5-10x higher than traditional patient communication tools (portals, etc). Health systems benefit from increased loyalty, improved market share, and digital modernization in an industry that has lagged behind in adopting communication technology.

3. What's your advice for someone who’s thinking about pursuing entrepreneurship or a nontraditional career in medicine?

Medicine/healthcare is an absolutely huge segment of the economy with a myriad of entrepreneurial opportunities. The first advice I would give is to figure out if you want to work clinically or if you're ready to leave the stethoscope behind—your opportunities will vary dramatically based on this choice. Second, figure out what "project" you want to invest your time and energy in. Does a mission matter to you? Does it need to be your idea or would you be happy joining an existing company? Third, don't be afraid to lead and take on responsibility as an operator. In other words, you don't need to be "window dressing" for a health tech company. Your medical training is a testament to your work ethic and resiliency. You can upskill where needed, and there is help out there if you ask for it. Fourth, be ready for a marathon. If you're planning to start or join a mission-driven company to bring real change to healthcare, it's going to take a while. Even the modern healthcare unicorns (as few and far between as they are) have been around for at least five to 10 years. Healthcare entrepreneurship can be slow. As a physician, you're equipped to handle the rollercoaster of startup life, but don't expect a sudden windfall. Fifth, please find a good co-founder who complements your skills and with whom you want to work closely for years. I can't stress this enough. Finally, push past your fear of failure. Those years in school and medical training represent a huge investment, but you will not succeed without redefining yourself. This was one of my biggest concerns when launching my company, but it proved largely unfounded–I have encountered nothing but support from my peers.

4. Since building your company, what’s one lesson you’ve learned about entrepreneurship that wasn't obvious to you before?

When I was starting Vital, I incorrectly assumed the friction in startup life would be where I lacked the skills and knowledge—fundraising, sales, and business operations. Basically all the “MBA stuff” that you don’t learn in medical school. However, what I actually found to be the most difficult and most essential was the maintenance of long-term focus. One of our prescient investors put it this way in an early board meeting, “Companies like yours don’t die of starvation, they die of indigestion.” As a doctor you’re going to want to work with everyone and consider many possible solutions to each problem. It’s a core tenet of our training. But you need to ignore that impulse and be comfortable saying “no” or “not right now” even when those ideas are great.

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn and learn more about his company here.