You have just finished a business meeting and you are rushing to the next one. What do you do? Your smartphone is sitting there beside you. On your phone is the Uber app. Uber connects you with the driver in seconds. You enjoy a safe, hassle free drive to your destination

Now paint this scenario

You see that someone is seriously injured in an accident on the roadside. You rush forward to help the victim who requires immediate medical attention. You wish you could ask someone for advice on the nearest medical center, but no one is in sight

Wish you could have an Uber for health care!

The taxicab model was inefficient, not mobile, and often unpleasant for the consumer. Anyone who has tried to get a cab will tell you: it was a model built around the needs of taxi drivers and their companies, rather than their consumer. Mobile technology has existed for over a decade, but the taxi industry has simply refused to embrace it. Enter Uber. It uses a mobile platform. It is GPS-enabled. It allows a consumer to find the nearest driver, rate the driver. It’s paperless. It’s efficient

Just as Uber changed transportation in positive way, healthcare startups will change the healthcare model from hospital-centric to patient-centric. Hospitals, Insurance companies and other healthcare providers don’t realize that a major shift is taking place, will become the equivalent of today’s taxi industry.

We are already seeing more empowered patients. People want information. They want to make their own diagnosis. They want to research their doctors. They want their own health data. And caregivers want to be—and must be—part of the loop. Caregivers want to use connectivity tools to keep track of loved ones—data, connectivity, sharing—even from a distance. So healthcare will be personal, but also easier for the people who love you

Healthcare must shift its focus toward the patient. Successful medical products will put the patient’s needs first and foremost. Just as Uber has demonstrated with putting the passenger first, ignoring the patient will be fatal for health solutions companies: they will be the new taxi drivers, baffled by how the world has passed them by