My journey from golf course employee to building HIPAA-ready commerce solutions.
I’ve spent essentially my entire career in the medical device and life science space, and it didn’t start the way you would think.
In college, I worked at a golf course as the guy who drove that funny tin can of a golf cart around. Golfers would hit balls (and occasionally me…on purpose) at the driving range and I would collect them. Unfortunately, my college degree required an internship, and working at a golf course didn’t really count. When I told the owner of the course my situation, and that I couldn’t work for him that summer, he said, “Why don’t you come work for the medical supply company I also run?”
Huh? He runs a golf course and a medical supply company. Who is this guy?!
Anyway, I accepted and started my journey down the path of medical supply distribution and the rest is, as they say, history.
So, What Does This Have to Do with Adobe Commerce?
There’s a reason this story is important and why I tell it. I worked in marketing and eCommerce when I interned at this medical supply company. After graduation, I was offered a full-time role where I helped our customers build and launch Magento 1.0 sites that leveraged our distribution network to fulfill orders. So, a local durable medical equipment provider essentially could ship anywhere in the country.
During that time, we had to make sure that the Magento platform was secure and HIPAA / PHI compliant for our customers’ customers.
Fast forward 14 years and I find myself in a full-circle situation with Adobe Commerce. This past year, Perficient’s commerce and healthcare teams collaborated with Adobe’s commerce and healthcare teams to build a HIPAA and PHI-ready solution. In theory, the foundational work we did 14 years ago has become part of the actual Adobe Commerce product – talk about a cool story!
With all this in mind, here are three ways medical device and life science companies can leverage Adobe Commerce to build solutions that help everyone within the healthcare lifecycle.
3 Adobe Commerce Use Cases for Med Device & Life Science
Secure B2B Ordering
Just because an organization operates within the B2B vertical doesn’t mean they don’t or shouldn’t leverage HIPAA / PHI-ready platforms. For example, a nursing home will order from a medical supply distributor and need to order patient-specific products that need to go to a specific patient room upon delivery. Many times, these facilities want to place patient notes within the cart to notify the receiving department where the products need to go when they arrive. This is a perfect opportunity to leverage Adobe Commerce and to extend HIPAA and PHI-ready solutions through the ordering chain.
Order On Behalf of Ordering
Secondly, the secure B2B ordering feeds into an “order on behalf of” capability. Many durable medical equipment providers and pharmacies will leverage their distributor portal to order products on behalf of a customer. Then the products ship directly to the customer’s home. When doing this, the customer’s products and condition-specific information need to be protected. Utilizing Adobe Commerce in a scenario like this would enable medical device and life science organizations to broaden the level of protection and trust required. Plus, it would help the distribution company provide this ordering solution to its customers and create extensive customer lifetime value.
D2C Takes the Stage
Finally, having a foundation platform like Adobe Commerce in place allows medical device and life science companies the ability to enter new markets and channels like direct-to-consumer (or D2C). Now more than ever, consumers are demanding conversations and interactions with brands directly vs. through other channels. Adobe Commerce allows for this use case to become a reality by cloning off a new site instance that can be leveraged into this new channel with HIPPA and PHI-ready features, of course.
How Becton Dickinson Empowered Patient Independence With an Enhanced Commerce Experience | READ STORY
A Commerce Solution for the Healthcare Lifecycle
Vertically integrated solutions like this are a must-have for organizations that operate within the medical device and life science space. As you can probably tell, this is an industry that’s close to my heart and it’s really amazing to have a HIPAA-ready solution like what Adobe has created out in the space. I’m extremely excited to continue working with them, just like I did 14 years ago to help people have access to products and services that allow them to live the life they desire.
Learn More About HIPAA-Ready Adobe Commerce
This blog is part of a four-part series discussing commerce, protected healthcare experiences, use cases, and Adobe’s HIPAA-ready commerce platform.
Check out parts one and two and stay tuned for the final blog:
